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In response to Robert's original post, I would say it's not working out very well. It's a tough issue, because on the one hand, if a local community is divided in terms of religion, then it may not be possible to include prayer or religious studies in school in such a way as to avoid alienating some segment of the population. But on the other hand, I think that an education that avoids religion is severely lacking in a number of ways, including ways that may not be immediately obvious.

I attended a public school in a rural area in the U.S., from kindergarten through high school. And in my experience, there were some gaping holes in my education, even without considering explicit religious education. For example:

(1) In all of the history that I studied at all grade levels, there was virtually no mention of the role of religion in history, even though religion has been a MAJOR force in shaping history, both for good and for bad. Therefore, I feel that the history that I learned in public school wasn't really worth much, considering the important historical events and historical context that were completely left out.

(2) Philosophy simply was not taught, and I assume that at least part of the reason is because different approaches to philosophy are often tied to different religions (or to lack of religion). I simply cannot understand how a high school can allow students to graduate without at least some minimal introduction to philosophy.

(3) In all of the literature that I studied, the role of religion in literature was rarely explored, even when this would have been a legitimate angle.

But even more significant than any of these examples, my own experience was that the lack of religious education in "regular" school (i.e., as opposed to Sunday school at church) was a major factor in my drifting away from faith in my late teens to mid-20s. I say this because all throughout my school years, I had something like five hours per week of math class, five hours per week of reading/writing/grammar class, five hours per week of science class, etc. But I had only one hour per week of religion class (in Sunday school). Plus, I didn't have grades or tests in my religion class, while I did have grades and tests in my other classes. (My college education, at a major state university, was even worse, as I studied virtually nothing relating to religion.)

Thus, throughout my school years, I essentially received the message that subjects like math and science are much more important and much more serious subjects than religion. After many years of subconsciously receiving this message, it is no wonder that I gradually drifted further and further away from true faith and hope in God, until God found a rather roundabout way to call me back.

And these are just some of the reasons why I will not be sending my kids to a public school.