Should prayer during non-religious ceremonies be banned when it comes to mandatory events?

I respect and am grateful for your view on Religious expression. Unfortunately it is not universally held by some atheists and agnostic theists. Every year my wife's employer hosts a winter holiday party. Every year he wishes me "Happy Holidays". Every year I wish him "Merry Christmas". Every year he says that he runs an inclusive workplace, and that wishing people a "Merry Christmas" is exclusionary. And every year, I tell him that I was extending best wishes of me and hopefully of my God. I additionally tell him that his inclusive policy just made me feel uncomfortable and excluded because he just told me that my faith was unwelcome. Just to put icing on my efforts to be an ass, I tell him the etymology of the word "holidays" is "Holy Days". Then we don't talk again for the rest of the night. I admit I do not always behave like a good Christian.

Religion should not be a formal part of compulsory ceremonies. It should never be compulsory to listen to someone's religious expression. But, that does not mean that religion should be banned from the public square or hidden from non-compulsory sight. There is plenty of room for religious expression in uniform at voluntary events where a service member's personal story is part of the event. For instance it would be inappropriate for the government to ban or censor the prayer of a Chaplain at a military funeral at Arlington National Cemetery if the service member or their family requested it. If a service member were asked what contributed to their success in the military or what got them through a combat crap sandwich a brief expression of their faith would not be inappropriate as long as it was not a set up to guarantee that they could proselytize.

I personally find it humorous when someone is outraged by an expression of religious faith in the public square, or they go beyond their legitimate right to hold and express their own belief and feel obligated to attack the beliefs of people of faith. They feel that their attack to discredit is an expression of their faith. It isn't. Its just being a contrarian ass.

Should the rights and religious beliefs of the majority be stifled for the sensibilities of the minority? Particularly when no one is forcing anyone to pray, nor are judgements passed against those who consider themselves atheists or non-Christian. No where in the first amendment to the constitution was there a mention of a "wall of separation" between church and state. It proposed that the state shall not endorse any particular religion. I doubt that a prayer given at a military function constitutes the state endorsing any particular denomination or religion. This has been abused by many in the secular realm to abscond with the rights of th religious majority. This is frightening to me, particularly since there has been no threat to he irreligious minority from the religious majority.

This seems like another case of an individual thinking they're bigger than the whole/organization.

If you complain loud/long enough, A1C (Join to see), sadly this will get changed.

I'm not an overly religious person (meaning I don't talk much about it or push my beliefs on anyone), but while I serve, I believe stronger in traditions than personal faith...prayer is a military tradition and if you do not like/agree with it, you don't have to serve.