The residents in my apartment building all have assigned parking spaces, which means that whenever I go to my car, I see the same cars around me. One truck that is parked near my four-door car has a bumper sticker on its rear that I have not seen before, or seen on any other car since. The sticker reads "Don't Pray In Our Schools. I Won't Think In Your Church."

The message of the sticker brings up, of course, an old charge that is used by atheists and agnostics against those who subscribe to a particular religion -- namely, that people of faith cannot at the same time be people of reason. Contrary to the message of the bumper sticker -- and this frankly should come as a surprise to few -- many of the world's most prominent religions encourage and mandate intellectual contemplation and study. And one need not subscribe to prayer in schools to see that...