VA legislator: How will I comfort the mourning without...including sectarian prayers at public events?

From the Washington Post:

RICHMOND, Feb. 18 -- As a former Virginia state trooper who has visited horrific crime scenes and notified families of the death of a loved one, Charles W. Carrico Sr. learned the value of prayer and turned to it many times, he says.

So Carrico, who now represents Grayson County as a member of the House of Delegates, said he felt he had to act after Virginia State Police chaplains were ordered last summer to give only generic prayers at public events, a ruling several interpreted as a ban on uttering "Jesus." Rather than comply, six of the agency's 17 chaplains resigned. Carrico wrote a bill to address their stance.

"As a Christian, I must pray to Jesus Christ," Carrico said. "I'm being told not to. Why should I even pray?"

Why indeed--a good question. I'm as much a separation supporter as the next "Christian" liberal, but I couldn't agree more that bland, least-common-denominator prayers at public events are pretty much useless. Of course, my objection is to calling God's blessing on such events in the first place--I think prayer's too important to use it as a stamp-of-divine-approval on a non-religious function. Still, ultimately I agree with Carrico's point here.

Except...what does praying to Jesus for strength and comfort amidst a difficult and wrenching job have to do with offering prayers at public events? Well, actually not much. That's right--it's the same old bait-and-switch we know from school-prayer debates: public-school students should have the right to pray in whatever way they want! (Yes!) So teachers/other authority figures should be able to lead them in specifically Christian prayer during school. (Huh?)