As a science educator, I cannot and must not allow religion to dilute or conflict with the science I teach. I respect each individual’s differing beliefs and celebrate diversity, critical thinking, and reasoning, but faith doesn’t require the rigors of scientific proof.

My job is to help my students, regardless of their own beliefs, to think like a scientist. My job is to teach them how to think, not what to think.

I am a devout Catholic. If my students ask, I tell them, but I would NEVER ask them to join me in saying the rosary or any prayer.

In academia, religious practice is problematic, unprofessional, and may serve to alienate believers and non-believers as they also learn to embrace the process of science.

Do I pray at work? Yes, I pray all the time, but that is private. I don’t need formal prayer in all social settings of my life. God and I, “we be mates.”

Prayer was not “taken” from schools! Each believer can pray, just not overtly and forcing others of different faiths to engage the same.

Folks, my life IS a prayer. No institution or government will force me to deny or promote my own faith. It is mine. It is an intimate exchange between myself and my creator.

There is an appropriate time and place for communal prayer, and it is not in public schools and other educational institutions.