Prayer

The call to prayer is a pervasive, comforting echo across the Middle East, but a prominent Islamic cleric has urged Muslims to spend less time prostrating and more time working. Sheik Yusuf Qaradawi said people often use prayer to slip away from their jobs longer than they should. "Praying is a good thing . . . 10 minutes should be enough," according to a fatwa, or edict, posted on Qaradawi's website. The sheik's opinion is shared by many clerics and highlights the predicament between economic productivity and religious devotion in a part of the world where piety is prized.

Ideally, governmental bodies would refrain from including prayers - even ecumenical, "lowest-common-denominator" ones - in their public proceedings. But if prayers are to be offered, they certainly shouldn't be monopolized by a single religious tradition. That is how the Supreme Court should rule in a case involving a town in New York state. On Monday, the justices agreed to hear a case involving the town of Greece, N.Y., which since 1999 has begun its official meetings with a prayer.

Backed by some of the most powerful members of the Senate, a little-noticed provision in the healthcare overhaul bill would require insurers to consider covering Christian Science prayer treatments as medical expenses. The provision was inserted by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) with the support of Democratic Sens. John F. Kerry and the late Edward M. Kennedy -- both of Massachusetts, home to the headquarters of the Church of Christ, Scientist. The measure would put Christian Science prayer treatments -- which substitute or supplement medical treatments -- on the same footing as clinical medicine.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court has agreed to revisit the issue of church-state separation and decide whether a town council can begin most of its monthly meetings with a prayer from a Christian pastor. Thirty years ago, the court upheld a state legislature's practice of beginning its session with a nondenominational prayer. The justices said that "to invoke divine guidance on a public body entrusted with making laws" did not violate the 1st Amendment's prohibition on an "establishment of religion.

Given what President Bush is doing to the separation of church and state, a prayer is about all our Constitution is going to have left. GARY GARSHFIELD Irvine

Re "A new world pope," March 14 When I was confirmed, I chose Francis as my confirmation name. I was inspired by St. Francis of Assisi and his example of peaceful humility and service. Unfortunately, the church would not allow me a male name, and I had to settle for Frances, the feminine form. I have always considered St. Francis my role model. I pray that Pope Francis not only leads a more forward-thinking church but also a forward-moving one, modeled in his namesake's grace.

Can prayer boost the odds of recovery from physical ailments? Studies on the question have yielded no clear-cut answers, although one well-known, 2006 study of people who prayed for others from long distances concluded that prayer had no effect on healing. A new study, however, found dramatic healing effects for people who were prayed over by someone in close physical proximity and who believed that this kind of prayer could heal them. This type of prayer, which often includes the healer laying hands on the patient, is practiced by some Pentecostal Christian groups.

Once again Lancaster has been vindicated - or "blessed," as the city's press release put it - by a court ruling upholding its practice of opening City Council meetings with a prayer. On Tuesday, a federal appellate court affirmed a district court ruling that a single reference to Jesus Christ in an invocation did not violate the constitutional separation of church and state. But regardless of what the courts say about its legality, opening council meetings with a prayer is inappropriate, and it should stop.

Students at CEDARVILLE COLLEGE in southwestern Ohio have created a "wall of prayer" to honor military personnel involved in Operation Desert Storm. Students at the Baptist collage and area residents submit soldiers' names, which are affixed to a wall of the school's chapel. The names are assigned to individual students, who pray for the soldiers, write letters and send packages.

Citing what he perceives as an Obama administration “war on coal,” an Ohio coal mining executive and prominent Republican donor responded to the results of the presidential election by laying off more than 150 workers. Robert Murray, chief executive of Murray Energy Co., the largest privately held coal company in America, blamed the layoffs on President Obama --  and, by extension, the voters who elected him -- in a memo to employees. “The American people have made their choice,” Murray said in what he called a prayer that he delivered at a staff meeting at which he discussed the layoffs.

NEW DELHI - Thousands gathered Tuesday in the rubble of the collapsed Rana Plaza garment factory complex in Bangladesh to pray for the 1,127 people who died in the world's worst apparel industry disaster. Pictures taken at the Islamic prayer ceremony on the outskirts of Dhaka, the capital, showed a rescue worker in yellow headgear affixing a red flag in the ruins. Army personnel, who have been working around the clock for almost three weeks, ended their cleanup and recovery operation early Tuesday, handing responsibility to civil authorities.

Image makeover Kevin Durant is not nice? The marketing slogan may have a sliver of truth to it after the Oklahoma City Thunder star's questionable gesture and explanation Thursday against Golden State. Durant collected the ball off a Russell Westbrook block and drove for a vicious dunk. If only he had stopped there. The player who is so polite that he routinely exchanges pleasantries with out-of-town reporters in the hallways of Chesapeake Energy Arena then pretended to slash his throat before crossing his hands in prayer.

Israeli police detained five women for wearing prayer shawls at the Western Wall on Thursday, days after a new proposal emerged to set aside part of the holy site for men and women to pray together. Female worshippers at the sacred site are barred from performing religious rituals that Orthodox Jewish religious authorities say are solely for men. Women have repeatedly been detained for violating those rules, a continuing clash between the Orthodox rabbis who steer Israeli religious institutions and more liberal strains of Judaism in which women can use prayer shawls and lead congregations as rabbis.

Rick Warren's Saddleback Church congregation in Orange County began Sunday morning worship services with a prayer for their pastor, who announced the day before that his 27-year-old son had committed suicide. Tom Hollladay, a teaching pastor at the mega-church in Lake Forest, led the prayer for Warren and his wife, Kay, at the 9 a.m. service, according to the Associated Press. Warren did not attend the service. On Saturday, Warren released an emotional message to his congregation in which he paid tribute to his son Matthew Warren, who he said died Saturday after battling mental illness all of his life.

For the first time in memory, a woman has led a prayer at the major conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. Jean A. Stevens offered the closing prayer for more than 100,000 Mormons gathered Saturday for the church's general conference. Millions of others watched via satellite. “Women have been praying in church and speaking at conferences for years,” church spokesman Eric Hawkins told the Los Angeles Times. “But this is the first time in memory that we have had a sister lead a prayer.” A feminist group launched the Let Women Pray campaign in January asking for the right to offer opening and closing prayers at the conference, which has been held for 183 years.

Re "Lancaster's prayer problem," Editorial, March 28 What a logical editorial on the prayers at Lancaster City Council meetings. People don't seem to understand why we separate church and state until there is mention of a religion other than their own. There is no reason whatsoever to pray before meetings, other than to foist your religious beliefs on others. Pat Hall Hacienda Heights Wow, imagine that, a woman who will travel from Arcadia to Lancaster to be offended, to feel like an outsider, and then sue the city.

The annual San Fernando Valley prayer breakfast and brunch Thursday attracted 750 clergy and laity to Los Angeles Baptist High School in North Hills for observances on the National Day of Prayer. The services, organized by the evangelical and interracial Valley Pastors Fellowship, had no political figures on the program in contrast to previous observances. Elizabeth Dole, wife of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen.

Religious leaders may deliver opening prayers at Lancaster city council meetings and mention Jesus if they like, as long as a variety of denominations are invited, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. Lancaster Mayor Rex Parris says the prayers have unified the community, and the lawsuit was about “making Jesus a dirty word.” Sectarian prayers are not prohibited at government meetings, the court said, and the city has not endorsed one religion over another, even though a majority of the prayers are Christian.

Once again Lancaster has been vindicated - or "blessed," as the city's press release put it - by a court ruling upholding its practice of opening City Council meetings with a prayer. On Tuesday, a federal appellate court affirmed a district court ruling that a single reference to Jesus Christ in an invocation did not violate the constitutional separation of church and state. But regardless of what the courts say about its legality, opening council meetings with a prayer is inappropriate, and it should stop.