Have you ever attended a sporting event at a public schools and been forced to participate in a religious ritual? Not talking about a brief moment of silence or other non-verbal event, more of a "you have to be quiet and listen/participate or be shunned or have the crap beat out of you" type of event. Would you consider that a violation of your right NOT to participate in a religion?
You paid the entry fee to attend the sporting event as a spectator not a participant. There were no signs stating that the public school you were entering was affiliated with a particular brand of religion and no signs stating that religious rituals would be practiced sometime during the game or immediately after and no mass mailings that informed you that your tax dollars were being used to promote a particular brand of religion at the public schools. And much to your surprise, being the first sporting event you have attended at this particular school in a few years, the entire audience seemed to know it was going to happen, except you.
There is not a problem with a team of players having a group prayer before or after the game in the locker room, they have a choice to attend or participate in such things, but we, the tax and entry fee paying public do not get that choice. We are forced to participate in a religious ritual simply because we can't disappear from the premises at the moment the event is over, or worse, before it even begins. We paid to see a team play a sport, not practice their religion, and once they have finished playing, exit the playing field/court, not sit or kneel and recite scripture or other religious documents while we are captive until they complete it.
There are an abundance of religious fanatics on this site so I expect to be lambasted with more scripture quoting and multitudes of justification for allowing this type of forced religious participation to go on without complaint, but maybe there will be other voices that will be heard that can shed unbiased opinion on this topic.
When is a religious prayer or recitation allowed in a public school or school sponsored activity? Specifically recitation of "The Lords Prayer", at the conclusion of a basketball game by both teams in the center of the court. This was not a "special" event, just a game between two public schools.