According to the Constitution and its chief interpreters, all opinions - even those that are ignorant or unpopular - have a place to be heard in the United States.

In late February, The State News entered into an advertising contract with campustruth.org and the One Truth organization. The newspaper has since run two different ads from the pro-Israel group in four issues.

On Monday, five student groups protested the newspaper for publishing advertisements they claim incite racism and negative sentiment toward Palestinian students. About 30 students descended upon Student Services demanding the newspaper pull the ads and apologize.

Although the campustruth.org ads do not reflect the opinions of The State News, the newspaper has no reason to apologize for allowing the group to use its forum to voice its political speech.

Newspapers are the daily embodiment of the First Amendment. They are shrines dedicated to the greater principles of free speech, free press and freedom of religion.

Nonetheless, with rights come responsibilities. While it might be our constitutional right to allow people to say what they please, rules of common human decency have to be regarded.

Newspapers are forums for people and organizations to attack issues, not any person or groups of people. Attacks upon people for any reason, whether it be race, gender, faith, sexual orientation, culture, age, etc., is wrong and has no place in our society.

Prejudiced speech is hate speech, and such a voice is not protected by the Constitution.

Although The State News doesn't support the message portrayed by campustruth.org, it has no reason to believe the group promotes violence through its ads.

Of the two half-page ads published by the newspaper, the first is consumed by a black-and-white message comparing the impact of a suicide bomber's attack on Israeli victims versus his Palestinian family. The second ad juxtaposes images of Israelis mourning the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and Palestinians celebrating.

Both ads had text messages that read, "There are two sides to every story, but only one truth."

Although these ads portray Palestinians in a negative way, they do not do so on the basis that Palestinians should be considered bad people because they are Palestinian. Instead, One Truth seems to want its audience to believe Palestinians should be considered bad people because some of them commit suicide bombings and some of them celebrated in the streets after Sept. 11.

It is safe to conclude that a reasonable person wouldn't have to take two looks at these ads to see the ignorance behind the messages. While there might only be one truth, it is certainly not what campustruth.org and One Truth are trying to sell.

As an advertiser, similar to an opinion columnist, One Truth is under no obligation to offer a balanced and objective message to its audience. Just as Meijer is not expected to offer its competitors' prices in its grocery ads, campustruth.org is not expected to offer the anti-Israel argument in its pro-Israel ad.

The Israeli-Palestinian situation, though controversial, is worthy of international discussion and the debate is welcome within the pages of The State News. Commentary is welcome from all sides, even the extremes.

Ignorant speech is protected by the Constitution and has a place in our society. While such speech can often be offensive, as is the case with the One Truth ad campaign, it does not constitute hate speech.

Nonetheless, the passion-driven debate prompted by the pro-Israeli advertisements has hit the boiling point.

That is why, on Wednesday, The State News decided to indefinitely postpone the publication of more of the controversial ad campaign. It is our fear that the mere appearance of campustruth.org's views could be enough to prompt violence in this community of higher education.

It is a sad state of our society when people begin to fear for their safety because they see the fruits of the Constitution blossoming - opinions being voiced in a newspaper forum.

Within a higher education community, such as East Lansing, people should be reasonable enough to understand campustruth.org for what it is and engage in a respectable debate over the topic. But passions have been ignited to the point of rage.

It is not the duty of The State News to promote violence within its community and it will not attempt to feed the flames of hatred.

It is for that reason it has decided to postpone the publication of the ads.

But The State News still stands proudly as a forum where all opinions - even those which are ignorant or unpopular- can be heard.

However, we will not apologize for upholding the standards of the First Amendment.