A Non-sectarian Christian prayer?

Tom Pryde has written a tragically humorous article critical of "non-sectarian" prayers - and while I am liberal egalitarian enough to actually perhaps agree with the removal of sectarian prayer from public events, I do enjoy Tom's humor.

“Dear heavenly one that has a son who was murdered so that we could have freedom, we ask that you would forgive us for our generic ideals that seek the glorification of our institutions and dreams rather than the reconciliation that you desire between yourself and those who have suppressed the idea that you exist. We know that it was once acceptable to actually speak of you, but we no longer want to offend anyone who might think that you are something or someone other than you are, and our government only endorses its idea of religious expression. So if you don’t mind, we won’t actually mention who you are, but we really want to ask you to help us while we try to have this meeting on the behalf of a bunch of people who might (or might not) actually believe in you for real.”

Although he does not explicity say so, it sounds like Tom is for the other option - allowing representatives from the community make their sectarian prayers, barring none.  I know the Satanists just can't wait to open the next City Council meeting...

Perhaps the city council is seeking to promote tolerance, but making everything generic doesn’t actually accomplish this goal. How does it make sense to try to promote tolerance by masking differences? ....

Prayer by an outside clergy person does not mean that the city council endorses that religion, especially if they also encourage diversity and seek to accurately reflect the religious makeup of their town. However, if the council attempts to endorse only the generic religious views of a mythical secular society, they end up becoming the narrow-minded sectarians themselves, protecting some generic religion that no one really believes.