I was asked to pray at our local high school’s graduation ceremony that took place last week. Thankful to have that privilege, I gladly accepted the invitation, and offered both an invocation and a benediction in the name of Jesus.

This would not have happened in many parts of the U.S. Some school districts only allow student-initiated prayer. In other places, prayer has been banned altogether from school functions. This has led to some interesting occurrences. For instance, at some graduations, a student has faked a loud sneeze, and the other seniors shouted in unison, “God bless you!” That’s one way of getting in some kind of a prayer!

Public prayers have been banned or restricted in the name of religious tolerance. It seems to me that some can’t tolerate Christianity.

Some argue that if public prayers offend someone, that is reason enough to ban them. I have been offended by sermons and prayers that I didn’t agree with. That’s no reason to abolish them altogether. Since when does anyone have the right to never be offended?

The core issue here is that our country no longer agrees on who God is. When this nation was established with the principle of providing religious freedom for all, the founders agreed that the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ, was Lord of all. That consensus is not so strong today, and there-in lies the problem.

People can argue about this issue all they want, but the matter has already been settled. “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”—Philippians 2:9-11.