The US Supreme Court has dismissed an attempt by an atheist father to stop his daughter swearing allegiance to “one nation, under God” every morning.
While leaving the pledge of allegiance untouched, they sidestepped the main issue and ruled instead that this father (who is in a custody battle for his daughter) does not have the right to speak for her. Despite this, the ruling comes as a victory for conservative groups, with Justice Antonin Scalia removing himself from the case after earlier remarks made clear his view that the pledge is constitutional, and Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist also adding a comment that the pledge as it stands does not violate the US constitution.
Incidentally, the words “under God” were only added to the original 1892 pledge in 1954, twelve years after the pledge was made official at the height of World War II, as part of an effort to distinguish the U.S. way of life from the Soviet Union’s atheistic communism.
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I don’t want to get into an argument on this subject, but I can’t resist making a couple of comments.
1. Since “under god” wasn’t in the original pledge, removing it would restore the pledge to it’s traditional form as it was written (by the founding fathers?). Is this not a desireable thing?
2. If this court judgement didn’t actually make a statement about the words “under god” in the pledge, then how can this judgement reflect on possible future cases on this same subject?
3. If “under god” distinguishes the USA from communist russia (which no longer exists anyway), what distinguishes the USA from the uber-religious middle east? This should be especially important considering that Arab Terrorists are the New Enemya?? and the russians are a trading partner — almost ally.
Well …
1. The pledge itself is just over 100 years old (1892, as I said above), so it’s got nothing to do with the founding fathers.
2. I think it reflects on the future because two of the justices specifically said they thought the pledge is constitutional, so I can’t imagine anyone else will bother bringing such a case again until at least one of those justices is retired.
3. That’s easy: freedom. Freedom to worship God however you like. Freedom to dress however you like. Freedom to not worship. Freedom to disagree with the government and even sue them to try to change the pledge of alliegance.
I very much agree with swearing an alliegance to what is right and good, and worth fighting for. If I ever had the opportunity to make such an oath I would do so. I have had the honour of visiting the USA and think that anyone who actually resides there full time should have no hesitation in backing up the government and the people of what I see as a great country. I would move there tomorrow.
Can anyone help with the words of the declaration? E-mail me please
Chris Berry – United Kingdom currently in Iraq with the coalition
I Strongly Feel that “under god” should remain in the pledge because not only is it giving credit to the religeon our nation was founded on but it doesnt necisarily refer to the christian god it could mean any god from any religeon depending on the person saying it. also you dont even have to say the pledge of alliegiance but i think that even the people that dont believe in god (my self being one of them) should stand for the pledge of alliegiance because standing for it isnt saying “yeah i love god” its saying how much u love this country and the only ppl that actually have a problem with this are ppl from other countrys which would not like it if we went into there counrty and told them to change. but in a way we are because bush is stupid which is another debate entirly but if u would like to email me with a rebudle or if u agree or maybe even if u wanna talk about hating bush email me. Chereit@aol.com
i would also like to say that it is after all “ i Pledge allegiance to THE FLAG” not “I pledge allegiance” to GOD! Am i right well if i am email me Chereit@aol.com
I swear, I’m so tired of hearing, “It could refer to any god”. There is only ONE god in the history of the universe that has EVER gone by “God”, and that’s Yaweh. Shiva was never called “God”, even Allah, whose very name means “god”, does not have his/her name translated when moving languages. I’m not EVEN going to being to go in depth about the people that have more than one god, or none at all (the group which I belong too). I was born in America, raised in America, so don’t even begin to say that it is just forgieners that don’t like the Pledge as is. I was raised being told that we had the freedom of to our religion, and the government couldn’t force a religion on us.
Also, our nation wasn’t founded a religion, it was founded on the freedom thereof. The original pilgrims were escaping one form of Christianity, not just to enforce another one hundreds of years later. I highly doubt that you are a non-Christian at all, because I’ve known several dozen non-Christians in my life, and not ONE has ever said, “Yeah, I’m fine with God being in the Pledge.” To me, you sound like a Christian trying to spread discord among the populus. Most non-Christian people of any worth have near impeccable grammar, because we work hard to be taken seriously. We use things like capital letters, punctuation, and proper spelling. We don’t just say that we are right, we try very hard to prove it, because it’s an up hill battle at all times. People like you make me sick, you sully everything we stand for. You are the “Under God” in our Pledge, you are a mockery of all that we have accomplished. A false ally is worse than an any enemy.
To the rest of you and anyone that is just now visiting, I apologize for you all seeing that, but such displays shouldn’t go unchecked, even months after.
edit
Posted by JS, from myspace.com/unkempt_knight
That’s right. The addition of the phrase “under God” was always intended to be an implicit acknowledgement of the existence of A Supreme Being. Not of several co-equal demigods, but of God, creator and overseer of the world.
To me, “JS“ sounds like a pretentious snot who tries to make people think he’s clever by reciting bits and pieces of religious lore from everything from taoism to satanism without any understanding. Taking potshots at anyone willing to declare their opinions is not going to get you any credit around here. For the record, I am a Christian, although I certainly have no idea about Jennifer. And for the record, here’s the pledge:
When President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved adding the words “under God” he said:
If you think that America was founded by people who didn’t believe in God, you’re sorely mistaken in your reinterpretation of History, and you’re ignoring the understanding of those who lived closer to the actual events and have clearly written down their understandings and intent.
P.S. If you think that running about posting misspelled insults about people on blogs is going to get you noticed, you’re wrong about that too. I’ve removed the hyperlink from your post just so no search engine thinks I actually want anyone to see the useless waste of space that is your website.