I just read that Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was arrested in Birmingham for praying silently outside an abortion clinic. That sounds like a hideous violation of her rights, but it reminds me of a conversation with a friend, years ago.
He said (in a somewhat similar context) that Christians shouldn’t be praying in public anyway, based on Mt. 6:6.
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
So what’s the fuss about?
Context is everything.
Jesus was reacting to people who were praying in public in order to get attention in a culture where prayer was considered to be a good thing. E.g., “See how holy I am?” The Pharisees weren’t praying to God. They were looking for public acclamation.
In a very different context, when it was illegal to pray to anyone other than King Darius, here’s what the prophet Daniel did.
Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously. (Dan. 6:10)
He prayed openly, for all to see.
I don’t think the Birmingham authorities will throw Isabel in a pit with lions, but if they do, I hope the lions behave.