I think that's true, and I thought that was being practiced in some public schools.  A moment of silence, before class begins.   If a reading is preferable before class, which I don't object to, then a "non religious poem" or a reading from the Bill of Rights, or something like that rather than the Bible of a chosen Christian religion would be preferable.  When I was in school, it was first the bible reading, followed by the Christian Lord's Prayer which we all had to say, standing, heads bowed, hands folded in prayer in front of us, followed by saluting the flag (not hand on heart) and reciting the pledge followed by reciting of the American Creed which at our age, few of us really understood.  I wonder if Heidi could recite that from memory.   I still can.  I had no problem reciting the pledge or the American Creed as there was nothing in there that at my age I had any objection to.

"I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed, a democracy in a republic, a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; (a perfect union, one and inseparable;) established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity. (for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.)

I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, (support its Constitution), to obey its laws, and respect its flag, (and to defend it against all enemies.) As I recall, the words in blue parenthesis were left out of our recitation.   I didn't even know they existed until I read it on the internet.

(The words in blue parenthesis were not part of the American's Creed we recited.  Not sure about  (support it's Constitution).  I don't recall that, but possibly it was. 

Also when I went to public school the Pledge to the flag did not incorporate "Under God".   That came about sometime in the mid 50's when the country was still embossed in the McCarthy era.  An awful time in our political history.   Sen. McCarthy was a demigogue.  He was censured at the end of 1954, 67-22. And though I was in school at that time,  and we still said the pledge, I don't think anyone ever said (under God)  because we simply weren't used to saying it that way. This country was founded upon freedom of religion (which means (imo) freedom from religion as well) though for some this has never became acceptable.  Whether one believes in God or not, I see no reason for it to be placed in the middle of a patriotic salute to the flag.  One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, is what the country stands for, not whether all Americans must believe that this country is ruled by God.  And btw, whose God?

Looks like those xtra line spaces were taken out.  I don't know what happened there. I don't know how the blocks got in there.  But everytime I read through my post and went back to fix the spelling of this or that word, or check the grammar, the spaces came, and even though I fixed them, the spaces ended up all together at the bottom of the post.  I never saw that before. 

Marysara, I'm not sure I understand your tagline.

The Trinity does not necessarily preclude Jews and Christians praying together, but it does make things more complicated.

The God of Judaism and the God of Christianity is believed to be the same Being.

Christians differ from Jews in that they believe they have experienced God acting in the world and in their lives in three distinct ways: creation/providence, redemption/salvation, and inspiration/consolation. Jews in general believe that God acts in all three of these ways (we differ as to what exactly "redemption/salvation" means).

Christianity has experienced these three actions as being performed by three distinct actors which are nonetheless identical with "God." Judaism believes that all three actions are performed by one single actor that is "God."

In Christianity, Jesus is the Second Person of the Trinity and thus is God and thus is an object of prayer and worship along with with Father and the Holy Spirit. Christian tradition, and an average Christian liturgy, will adress prayers to all three Persons.

Prayers to the Father pose no problem. The 'Our Father, for example, is a very Jewish prayer. There is no theological barrier to a Jew participating in that prayer, although the prohibition against engaging in "alien" or "unauthorized worship" (avodah zarah) would prevent the religiously scrupulous from doing so.

Prayers to the Holy Spirit really should not be much of an issue either. The concept of the "Holy Spirit" originates in the Tanakh and is treated as an aspect or emanation of God. The Jewish and Christian concepts are close enough that a prayer to the Spirit should not really pose a problem.

The real problem is Jesus. Judaism has no category for incarnate divine persons, so Jesus can be considered either a deified human being or a separate god in addition to the Father. Neither of these is permissible for Jews as an object of prayer and worship. Jews are prohibited from praying and worshipping or invoking the name of any god but YHWH. So, prayers to the Son or prayers "In Jesus's name" are off-limits.

Evangelical Christianity has kind of made a fetish out of the the name of Jesus, making it almost like a magic spell that God won't hear anyone's prayers without them being made "In Jesus's name."

I am most familar with catholic Christianity (Roman, Orthodox, and Anglican) and such is not the case in their worship services.

A Christian and a Jew can join in a prayer addressed to "God" or "God the Father" (as long as the "Fatherhood" is implied to refer to God's parenthood of us all rather than His relation to the Son). Muslims can join in such a prayer as well.

There should be no formal prayer, moments of silence etc... in school. School time should be used for teaching and learning. Why take precious minutes away from the important work of schools?

There is no such thing as non-denominational prayer.