>I imagine many would see it as an erosion of the concept of marriage, since we're talking about beliefs. Next up, polygamy, incest, etc. At some point the word and the concept is meaningless. Personally, I think we should just get government out of it altogether. Document who you want to be able to visit you if you're in the hospital, who gets the kiddos, etc.

Slippery slope logical fallacy, irrelevant. Marriage the legal construct is basically a restricted version of your stated preference. The touchy Feely stuff about the "erosion" of marriage is the sort of argument used against allowing all adults to vote without restriction. Every time rights are expanded, some of the already privelidged class react against that expansion of rights.

Prayer in a public school also shouldn't be an issue. It shouldn't be happening except on an individual level. Separation of church and state and all that. For those parents who would prefer that there is prayer in school, how would they feel if the school forced their child to participate in a prayer from a different religion? Now, what accommodations should schools offer to students that have different religious beliefs - there is room for debate there.

If the parent wishes for their child to experience prayer in school they can send them to a private religious school. I understand that there have been gray areas on this topic - school is an entity that collides with the rest of the world at times after all, but the majority of cases of prayer in schools are very much a separation of church and state issue.