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TORONTO — More than half of Canadians support a ban on prayer in public life, such as council meetings or legislative sessions, as was recently imposed by the Supreme Court of Canada.

In a survey of 1,504 Canadian adults, taken after the Supreme Court found official public prayers violate the state’s duty of religious neutrality, three-quarters approved of just starting meetings with no ceremony at all, and a similar proportion approved of a moment of silence.

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The least acceptable idea was for rotating specific prayers — Jewish on Monday, for example, Muslim on Tuesday, Christian on Wednesday — which only 30 per cent of people found acceptable.

Far more — 52 per cent — approved of a generic prayer to God that did not mention any specific faith. Curiously, two-thirds of Canadians liked the idea of a “quick inspiring pep talk” in place of a prayer.

But a sizeable minority, even including non-religious people, wants to hang on to these traditions, apparently for their own sake.