Like many college students, I spent Sunday evening watching the Super Bowl. While the onset of the halftime show is typically the cue to mute the television and go on an expedition in search of more nachos, this year we kept it on. I’m a fan of U2 — I was right up next to the heart-shaped stage when they played in Washington, D.C. last summer — and knew it was going to be a good performance.

As the guitar strains rose over the loudspeaker, lead singer Bono, no stranger to publicly expressed spirituality, shut his eyes, bent over his microphone, and whispered a soft prayer. It was Psalm 51: "Oh Lord, open Thou my lips, that my mouth may show forth Thy praise."

Perhaps Bono consulted with the rest of U2 before he spoke, perhaps not. It was a small prayer, quietly spoken, but seen by millions of viewers around the globe. It was as public as prayer can be. Thankfully, no one has yet filed suit against him for it, but the ACLU still has time.

In Virginia, the Virginia Military Institute is fighting for the right to say another public prayer, their traditional prayer of daily thanks made before dinner. The ACLU filed a suit last May on behalf of Neil J. Mellen and Paul S. Knick, two cadets who were opposed to the prayer. On Jan. 28, U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon ruled that the prayer violated the separation of church and state. In his ruling, he declared that "the only logical conclusion" to any defense of the prayers is that "part of the Institute's educational mission ... is religious indoctrination."

While the traditional saying of grace before the dinner meal varies from day to day, here is it’s usual pattern: "Almighty God, we give our thanks for VMI, for its reputation, spirit and ideals. Let your favor continue toward our school and your grace be abundantly supplied to the Corps. Now, O God, we receive this food and share this meal together with thanksgiving. Amen."

From a legal perspective, Moon’s ruling makes little sense, and newly elected Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore is already mounting an appeal. Short of naming a "Designer of the Universe," the VMI prayer is close to being as nonsectarian as possible. True, it is monotheistic. But it is even less specific than the prayers offered every morning by the U.S. Senate or House Chaplains. The VMI prayer does not even specify itself as Christian, while all official Congressional Chaplains have been Christians, with the vast majority hailing from the Methodist, Episcopalian, Baptist and Presbyterian denominations. Surely Moon would find this a more egregious instance of "religious indoctrination" than a short saying of grace before a meal.

Yet the ACLU is wise enough to know that VMI’s dinner prayer presents an easier target than the hallowed traditions of Congress. Maj. Gen. Josiah Bunting III, VMI’s superintendent, who stood as the official defendant in the case, argues that the Supper Roll Call is not a "state-imposed religious exercise," as Moon identified it. Cadets are not required to recite the prayer, bow their heads, close their eyes, or even join on the "Amen." After the cadets enter the dining hall, and while they are still standing, a student cadet chaplain reads the prayer aloud, after which they are allowed to sit and eat.

Merely having to stand while listening to a public invocation of thanks to God is apparently very disturbing for Cadets Mellen and Knick. For them, it does not matter how the prayer is phrased; it cannot be reformulated or diluted any further. VMI has taught them to be determined, and so they stubbornly drive on in pursuit of their goal.

They are resolved that God will have no part in their education.

In Daniel Chapter 6, we are told the story of another assault on prayer. It is a familiar story to many, even to non-Christians. The bureaucrats working under King Darius were unhappy that Daniel, a Jewish prisoner brought back to Babylon after the plunder of Jerusalem, was of high regard in the King’s sight. After searching for faults as cause to attack his character, the commissioners came up empty handed.

"Then said these men, ‘We shall not find any grounds of accusation against this Daniel, unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God’" (Daniel 6:5).

So they conspired to convince the King to issue a decree stating that "no man shall pray to any God or man for thirty days, save thee, O king." Offenders would be cast into a den of lions.

Daniel was a wise man, though. He knew that he could not live for 30 days without prayer. He knew that no man could live a day without God.

"Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and, his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he continued kneeling upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, giving thanks before his God, as he had done so before" (Daniel 6:10).

Thus, the bureaucrats sought to permanently end Daniel’s private prayers of thanks, trapping the King with his own decree and sending Daniel to the lions den.

We all know what happened next.

The First Amendment is not a trap, a trick decree designed to ambush those who offer prayers in any public place. It was not written with such intent, which is why it just says: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;" and nothing more. One wonders if James Madison would take kindly to his new role as the King Darius of a new century.

Judge Moon knows this. Still, though, he balked at the very word, "God." No matter how it was used, written, or practiced — for Judge Moon, any prayer constitutes religious indoctrination.

The prayer at VMI has been discontinued, pending the appeal decision. Cadets may still pray individually, though it is not yet known if they may do so aloud. I do not know what they are praying, or how they are praying. I only know the prayer that I have today for the friends I have at VMI and the rest of the cadets. It is the same prayer I have for myself.

"Oh Lord, open Thou my lips, that my mouth may show forth Thy praise."