WHILE RELIGON, PARTICULARLY Christianity, played a key role in the settling of this country, the framers of the Constitution were concerned enough by the potential dangers of its influence on the government to mandate a separation of church and state. With a republic that is now growing rapidly in ethnic and religious diversity, the wisdom of their efforts is increasingly apparent.

But religious proselytizing in off-limits settings is always hard to prevent, especially where there are captive audiences like the military academies. A nasty bit of it took place not long ago at the Air Force Academy where non-Christian cadets found themselves under evangelical pressure from members of the staff. In response the school issued guidelines discouraging public prayer at official events and meetings, a stance that has not been adopted by its sister institutions, the Army and Navy academies.

Those two institutions of higher learning, which also are completely funded by federal taxpayers of all religions, are more intractable when it comes to banning religion from day-to-day mandatory activities outside the classroom, causing accusations that neither service has a strong commitment to follow the separation clause of the Constitution.

Nine midshipmen at the Naval Academy have asked the American Civil Liberties Union to help them persuade the school to end mandatory prayer at lunch. So far they have been turned down,

setting the stage for a potential lawsuit based on an appellate court decision that barred pre-meal prayer at the Virginia Military Institute, a state college.

Public institutions from elementary to secondary to college included prayer in their daily routines until the middle of the last century when the Supreme Court banned references to God in classrooms and official activities.

Why should the most public of all colleges — the service academies — be exempt from the same constitutional restrictions? These schools are totally funded by taxpayers and those who attend them are actually paid by public money to do so. The Air Force Academy's scandalous proselytizing brought the proper response, although it may not have gone far enough according to some observers. Army and Navy officials responsible for the oversight of those two institutions should try to understand that religion is a private matter and that every one has his own brand. Forcing those who don't believe to observe one variety is what those who founded this country tried to escape.

In a recent farewell address to the cadets, a former West Point superintendent urged the assembled corps to draw their strength from their faith in God. While that seems harmless enough to most of us, it still is an intimidating factor when added to an accumulation of such talk to those who have no specific religion or don't believe in a higher being.

As a card carrying Methodist, I personally would not be offended by this. But as a longtime observer of the workings of government, I must agree that this is a country with no established religion and that should be adhered to in the conduct of the public's business.