Public concert is dandy, but prayer is meddling The Layman Online Monday, September 6, 1999 A summer concert in Westchester County, N.Y., has provided a new twist to the ongoing national debate over religion in the public square. According to what happened, it's all right for a Gospel group to sing praises to God, but if one of the group's participants stops the music and begins praying into a microphone, that's meddling in the First Amendment rights of the audience. According to The New York Times, park officials at the government-owned Rye Playland said the United World Outreach Praise Choir was doing fine with its rousing gospel music. But during intermission, the choir's leaders conducted a prayer session that some in the audience found offensive, they added. The choir was scheduled to do a second concert, but that was canceled after park officials asked choir leaders to limit their performance to singing with no prayers during intermission. Vincent McCarthy, a lawyer for the American Center for Law and Justice, a group that represents those who believe that their religious rights have been violated, called the park's decision censorship. "You can't prohibit someone from giving a gospel concert and talking out Jesus Christ," he said.

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