The U.S. Supreme Court is currently hearing the case Greece v. Galloway, which could have major implications for the future of state-sponsored religion. The case concerns the town of Greece, N.Y. and its endorsement of a specific religious belief. As the story goes, before every town board meeting, since 1998, the board members begin by reciting a Christian prayer.

It seems clear that the town of Greece will not get away with its endorsement of a religion, given its clear violation of the First Amendment. The co-plaintiffs are Linda Stephens and Susan Galloway, nonreligious and Jewish respectively.

The court, ironically, opened the public session as it always has, with the marshal declaring: “God save the United States and this honorable court.”

To contextualize the debate over the tradition to open legislatures with a prayer, it would be prudent to review our history on the matter.

In 1802, Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to the Danbury Baptist association in response to their concern over persecution of their faith by the Congregationalists of Connecticut.

Jefferson’s letter itself is an eloquent reiteration of the separation of Church and State: “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature would ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’” (The term “wall of separation,” which is so often quoted by secularists like myself, made its first appearance here.)

No articulation can fully express the profoundness of those words. They represent the culmination, as it was hoped, of the ongoing struggle to prevent religious endorsement from the government. It is upon this struggle the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was forged, which afforded the Danbury Baptists religious freedom against the other religions.

As Jefferson saw it, the only way to guarantee religious freedom was to not endorse any religion.

Now, one could simply end with the Establishment Clause as a simple and reliable argument against the actions of the town of Greece. But a more horrifying fact requiring our observance is the wall of separation has been disintegrating with each declaration of a “day of prayer” or preachment of pseudo-science under the guise of “intelligent design” in our public schools. Indeed, no politician can legitimately run for office in this country without having to pass a religious litmus test (this certainly suggests a nationwide coercion). The use of prayer by the town of Greece is just one among a long line of offenses.

It must be emphasized that this is Christian prayer — it is exclusive of other religions. But even if an “inclusive” prayer were used, it would still be an endorsement of religion. That would surely serve to coerce Linda Stephens, who doesn’t believe in “God” at all. The suggestions of “all inclusive prayer” still flies in the face of the Establishment Clause — it is still “prayer,” which is substantively reserved for religious belief.

The United States is one nation represented by no particular religion. It is composed of many religions, all respected equally in their own right, so long as their belief does not infringe upon the rights of other individuals. That is the true beauty of the Constitution — it allows me to believe in whatever I want to believe, much to the dismay of many Christians, the dominating religious group of our country.

There are, of course, extreme cases where the endorsement of a specific religion leads to horrible outcomes. Take for example the Islamic extremists who claim to have God on their side and commit violence (in the name of that god) against nonbelievers and issue fatwas against writers and artists. One certainly need not exhaust the point with a reference to the Crusades.

The danger of the endorsement is the subscription to the cause. This isn’t to say that an endorsement of the Christian faith will lead to the same horrible consequences, but then again, President George W. Bush claimed he was invading Iraq and Afghanistan “on behalf of God.”

Greece’s board supervisor said: “We accept anyone who wants to come in and volunteer to give the prayer to open up our town meetings.” Therein lies the problem: There shouldn’t be any prayer at all. If you’re asking a nonreligious individual, who doesn’t believe in God or any god, to pray to what can only be assumed to be the Christian god, then you are violating the Establishment Clause through coercion.

The struggle to separate Church and State will continue so long as a majority of Americans believe the United States is a “Christian nation.” I, like many others, am prepared to fight for secularism until my dying breath. We do this in the name of science, education, medicine, religious freedom and anything else the majority religion would like to stick its paws in.

In the words of Christopher Hitchens: “Mr. Jefferson, build up that wall.”