Letters.

The Court and the Vote

I think it was right for the Supreme Court to overrule the Florida Supreme Court's decision allowing continued manual recounts, even if that meant Texas Governor George W. Bush winning the election. If the Supreme Court had allowed Florida to manually recount, I think Bush would have won anyway, because Florida is a Republican state.

JANICE GUEVAREZ New Castle, Del.

Every vote should be counted, no matter how long it takes.

ZACHARY CARTER Estherville, Iowa

The Electoral College has failed us for the fourth time by letting the loser of the popular vote win the presidency. It's not fair that we are getting our voices and opinions taken away by a system made over 200 years ago.

KAYLA LAMORTE Carbondale, Colo.

Easy Pray

Prayer before high school football games ("The Pre-Game Prayer vs. the Law," 11/27/00) is a blatant violation of the Constitution and of the rights of those who are not Protestants. If someone wishes to lean his head over his lunch or his test or before his football game and softly pray, they have every right to do so, and I do not wish to impede them. However, there is absolutely no need for someone to lead them.

It is easy for a Protestant to say, "Anyone can lead a prayer; it just happens that only we Protestants ever do it." It is much harder for a Jew, or a Hindu, or a Muslim, or a Mormon, or a Satanist. If anyone attempts to read anything but a Protestant prayer, they will do so in defiance of an irritable horde.

The separation of church and state exists not only to...