This photo of students praying before dinner has sparked a furious online debate

A picture of a group of American students saying grace at their pre-prom meal has sparked a debate about religion on Facebook.

The picture was uploaded on to the social media site by Oakland, California, journalist Frank Somerville, who had been sent the image by Noelle Smith, a parent of one of the pictured students.

Smith explained that she was really impressed with the youngsters and their overall behaviour.

She also said:

I want to share a picture of my daughter and her friends from prom night.

Now with the stories today about teenagers and tide pods and condoms gathering headlines - this picture speaks for itself.

Somerville added:

It sure does. And coupled with the post I did yesterday about the kids playing basketball who kneeled when a funeral procession went by, it says a lot about young people these days.

It’s REALLY nice to see.

This was obviously all done in good faith - both the image and with Somerville and the parent's words.

Many felt that it was wrong to brand these young people as good and decent citizens purely because they were practising Christianity in a public place, and that all religions should be accepted in this manner.

However, the overall feeling was that it was good to see kids of this age, no matter their faith or background behaving in such a responsible manner.

Others felt that people were blowing things way out of proportion.

Frank eventually weighed back in and tried to calm the situation down and clarify his comments.

HT Daily Mail

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