Over 200 years ago, when our fledgling nation’s political leaders were writing the Constitution, they included the idea of the separation of church and state.

Because our country was founded by people escaping religious persecution, the framers of the Constitution believed that people should have the right to worship as they choose, not the way the government wants them to.

It’s hard to believe that 200 years later, some people still haven’t grasped that concept. On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected a Mississippi law that allowed students to read daily prayers over the intercom before school.

It would be nice if the Court’s ruling would discourage states and school districts from trying to shove Christianity down the throats of students, but it probably won’t.

The school day is only about seven hours long. That leaves 17 hours in the day for people to pray if they choose. Why do some people feel this urgency to have prayer in school, too?

Advocates of prayer in schools often claim that no one is being forced to participate in the prayers. Students who don’t want to pray can just meditate or something. What’s the harm in that?

The idea that a little Christianity never hurt anyone is archaic and I’m sick of it. Religion belongs at church and at home. It does not belong in public schools.

The Mississippi law in question is actually quite clever. In 1962, the Supreme Court ruled that prayers led or initiated by school administrators or teachers were unconstitutional. It did not mention students.

A Jackson, Miss., high school voted 490-96 in favor of having students read a prayer over the school intercom every morning, and the Mississippi Legislature passed a law supporting them.

Obviously, 490-96 is an overwhelming majority. It may be tempting to say, “With the exception of a handful of Godless heathens, those students want a prayer in their school. Why not let them have it?”

Besides the separation of church and state, there is another important principle at work here. It is the idea that even if you are in the minority on an issue, you still have rights. The majority does not always get to impose its will on the dissenters. But if you have the numbers on your side, it’s easy to forget the people you are stepping on to get up on your high horse.

Two groups, Pat Robertson’s American Center for Law and Justice and the Rutherford Institute, have argued that student-led school prayers are an expression of free speech.

As it turns out, there is yet a third important principle that has been forgotten by the Bible-beaters who find a secular school day so offensive. Your right to free speech ends when it infringes on the rights of others.

There were 96 kids at that school who felt prayer in school was an infringement on their rights. Even though they are in the minority (see important principle #2) those kids still have rights.

Are all religions to be afforded the luxury of practicing their rites in schools?

What if, hypothetically, my religious beliefs dictate that at 10 a.m. every day, I must sacrifice a goat while listening to “Honkey Tonk Woman?” It’s pretty arrogant to argue that Christianity is any more viable or correct than any other religion, so why should it be the only religion allowed in schools?

I really don’t understand why this is an issue at all. What is so important about having prayer at school or graduation ceremonies?

I realize that prayer is a very important part of the lives of religious people. If you need a prayer to start your day then pray, AT HOME, and then go to school and learn.

Prayer at graduation ceremonies is always the source of some kind of fight. Even in schools where 99% of the students are Christian and want a prayer at graduation, there is always some heretic who has to spoil the fun for everybody.

If you feel that graduation is an event so momentous that it warrants a prayer, then pray, AT HOME, and then go to your graduation ceremony and fall asleep.

Group prayer isn’t any better that individual prayer, is it? Is God more likely to hear you if you all your classmates are praying, too? Of course not. God doesn’t care where or when you pray as long as you do it, so do it on your own time.

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Steven Martens is a senior in journalism mass communication from Cedar Rapids.