No Jesus in here!

A federal judge just recently ruled that the Indiana state legislature can't open sessions with an overtly Christian prayer - CNN link.

WHY can we not just ban prayer outright in government settings? I'm not advocating the outlaw of prayer: I'm just saying that it has no place in official government business. Know why?

If a prayer that explicitly mentions Jesus or "Christian terms" is an "official endorsement of the Christian religion", then isn't a prayer that explicitly mentions some form of deity (e.g., "god") an official endorsement of theistic religions?

I have news for the Psychotic Religious Nuts that make up so much of America and our government. I know it might be hard for you to understand, and might even make your head hurt a little bit, but here goes: Not everyone shares your belief in god. This means that yes, there are some people who don't buy into Judeo-Christian beliefs. This also means - and this is the hard part, so just do your best to keep up - that some people don't believe in any sort of God.

Yup. Us godless heathens. I myself have no hesitation to identify myself as an atheist. I don't believe in the God of the Old or New Testament, of the Q'aran, any of the Hindu deities - none of them. I believe in logic and science (note: please stop trying to replace these with your fictional deities), in observable evidence of things, the scientific process, and even a good dose of Occam's Razor. If you're looking to explain something, have two possible theories, and one requires an entirely unprovable and untestable belief in some magical mystical God-type-thing, then...I'll have to go with 'keep it simple and keep your god out of my life, thanks'.

Also...can I just skip straight from here to December 26th, and thereby avoid all the Christmas Gluttony?