Some hear words of tradition, others hear prayer: ; Local government agencies have kept prayer in meetings

DAILY MAIL STAFF

With a simple and innocuous prayer, many government agencies inthe area may be venturing onto the tenuous battlefield that hasraged in the courts the past half-century by treading the linebetween harmless tradition and state-sanctioned religion.

Separation of church and state, established by the U.S. SupremeCourt, is an issue that has always carried political firepower,enticing fierce arguments over issues such as posting of the TenCommandments in schools and requiring students to begin each daywith a moment of silence.

In response to civil rights activists' vehement opposition tomixing prayer with government, the courts erected the …