A PTO meeting is not the time or place for organized prayer..Keep your prayers personal or at church..And I do go to church, I even teach Religous Education.. One's religions beliefs should never make an outsider feel uncomfortable and if they do then they are being used in an inapprppriate manner..However, if your group agrees then you can not say no now can you, however I would be surprised if they did..Our society is just too diverse in a public school setting

Does anyone know if Roberts Rules of order addresses this issue?

I don't think the presiding officer gets to decide that a meeting should open with prayer, thereby forcing his/her own religious beliefs on the rest of the group. However, if prayer is a relatively new thing and this particular leader is uncomfortable with it, he/she should be able to decide not to.

Religion is one of the three 'taboo' cocktail party subjects because of it's controversial nature. Unless it's a group meeting directly related to a religious entity, I don't think prayer should be forced upon the leader or attendees.

There are an overwhelming number of opportunities for people to pray and to attend religion based activities. Folks who want or need that in their lives can choose those opportunities.

Not even gonna touch this one-- except to ask 'why does the presiding officer get 2 decide?'

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.
Ronald Reagan

I agree that outside of parochial schools or religious groups, meetings should not open with a prayer. Even if 100% "approve", it may be out of peer pressure and not real belief.

If your group has a tradition of opening with a prayer and you, as the presiding officer, feel uncomfortable, you should say so. I probably wouldn't wait until the meeting to either announce that or just skip it without explanation. I'd recommend either a note or email to your fellow board members. Explain that you're looking forward to working with this team, have an optimistic view of your goals for the year, and so on and so on.... Throw in a brief bit about "while we have a recent tradition of opening our meetings with a prayer, and I have the utmost respect for each of your religious beliefs, I prefer to simply call the meeting to order and dive right into business."

If you're dealing with mature, reasonable adults, it shouldn't be a big issue.

Ok, lets go the other way.

My PTO has been having a prayer to start the meetings for the 3 years I have been at the school. This year, I am PTO President and I agree with the above posts that this is not really the place for a prayer.

So, that being said, do I start off my first meeting next week and not do the prayer or should I continue on with the "status quo" even though others might feel as I do, that it's not the place only they don't feel comfortable saying so?

Have to agree with the majority. It could open a huge can of worms.