The angle I was looking at is from the viewpoint that God/scriptures teach us to “be one”, “love thy neighbor”, “love one another,” etc. and etc. That’s what I meant by group cohesion being a gospel principle.

People who are related (as in a family) certainly have a reason to be cohesive that can bypass religious considerations. No doubt about it.

There are many other reasons as well that a group might choose to stick together.

Historically, when religion is the raison d’etre of a group it has lead violence and disintegration. I am surprised at your suggestion since religion has been observably inadequate for group cohesion since the seventeenth century.

That applies to groups as intimate and as small as nuclear families. Imagine a family that sticks together because of religion. Then one of the children decides that the religion violates its conscience. That family better have a bond beyond religion or it will break up.

Jesus and Isaiah were wise when they dissuaded the pursuit of human approbation by the public display of piety. They were concerned about its corrosive effects on religion. During the last three hundred and fifty years of western history, it turns out that religion also cannot hold together collectives.

we do not pray in restaurants. we saw someone say a prayer in a los angeles souplantation last week and discussed, my husband and i, that it seemed odd. it’s just not the way either of us were brought up.

my kids insist on saying blessings on any bit of food, though they are too young to be eating things like candy bars with any regularity so i guess jjohnsen would approve. we just express gratitude for the food and ask a blessing upon it and us, forsaking the trite “that it may nourish and strengthen our bodies.” but sometimes my kids do throw in something about being “healthy and strong,” as that’s how we refer to good food choices, which their diet is mostly comprised of.

saying prayers aloud in the car doesn’t bother me. i sometimes find myself talking to myself out loud anyhow. i’m on the road a lot and without anyone else to talk to, so i think things out aloud every so often. i always figure other people will think i’m on a cell, which allows me to be even MORE animated!

i think i’m more deliberate when i say public prayers, but i’m very in-tune then and really try to listen for what i should say. in private prayers, i ramble a lot.

my family is very anti-lds. oddly, they asked me to lead the family in prayer a few thanksgivings ago. i was very flustered and even worried about what i should or shouldn’t say to be sure i didn’t offend any of the catholics, jews, lutherans, atheists, or others present. it was interesting, but a positive experience for me. i was grateful for that morsel offered by my family.

“our children ought to make up their own mind about their religious obligations, …”

Of what age are the children you are talking about?

I had a friend who grew up in the Unitarian tradition and she told me a story about going to church (as a child) and asking a teacher “is there a God?” The teacher responded by simply asking “what do you think?” My friend seemed a bit frustrated by the inability of a church instructor to definitively articulate a belief in God’s existence.

Group cohesion is not a gospel value. And as the prophet says, it cheapens piety.

Besides given that our children ought to make up their own mind about their religious obligations, public prayer and religion are probably counterproductive for most communities.

We should not confuse our group for the gospel nor deploy religion against the conscience of our neighbors and family members. Therefore, it is not ethical to deploy prayer for group cohesion.

I don’t mind street praying as long as people have an opportunity to get away from it. I do think, however, that it is a corrupting practice.

Neither do I mind when people pray publicly or official events begin with a prayer. That’s the tradition in this society but it cheapens Christianity into a matter of appearances.

When candidates for political office do not dare to admit that they are atheists then we have created a world where it pays to lie. That’s neither good for society nor for Christianity. They both become corrupted by public displays of piety.

That Sermon of the Mount scripture about praying in closets occurred to me when I first read the D&C verse that is quoted in the post.

I think one potential point of the D&C scripture may be to sort of balance things out – to make it clear that our motive cannot or should not be to “be seen of men” as we pray – but at the same time we should not conscientiously seek to avoid all instances of public prayer. There are times when public prayers are appropriate and wholesome – we just have to be sensible about it.

We also had many members in my mission who called the mission president to ‘report’ missionaries drinking Coke and caffeinated soft-drinks, so we were encouraged to avoid doing that in public–same sort of thing.

You can draw your own conclusion about the members in my mission, but when inactivity is a big enough problem as it is, there’s something to be said for trying to avoid problems and stumbling blocks by doing (or not doing) little things even if you know that they are (or should be) meaningless…

That said, like Kevin, I don’t want prayers in public schools.

And danithew, I’m conflicted about subway prayers and preaching. I admire the preachers’ desire to share the gospel with the masses of NY, but sometimes that sharing, in a confined moving subway car, seems more impositional than preaching on a street corner where people can come or go as they will.

There is nothing inherently wrong with public prayer but it does create a situation conducive to various manifestations of vanity.

Matthew 6
5And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

6But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.