The federal courts have justified the constitutionality of having the anti-atheist editorial, "One nation under god," in our Pledge of Allegiance by claiming that the phrase has supposedly lost its religious significance due to rote repetition, and that, therefore, it is merely a patriotic phrase.
Last Saturday, the Knights of Columbus had this entry in the Arlington Heights (suburban Chicago, Illinois) Independence Day parade:
It sure doesn't look like they put ONUG there because of its patriotic significance, not when you combine the phrase and a huge American flag with two large Christian crosses.
In fact, it proves just the opposite.
The Knights of Columbus is a Roman Catholic men's organization. It is the group that pushed for adding the phrase, "under god," to the Pledge back in the 1950's, which you can read about on this K of C web page.
By their own admission, they didn't do it, in the 1950's, for a secular reason, and they sure aren't putting the phrase on their parade float now for a secular, patriotic reason. Instead, they are doing it specifically to link god belief with patriotism. They do it to imply that, in order to be a patriotic American, you need to be a god-believer.
My friend, Michael Newdow, of Sacramento, California, has a lawsuit pending in federal appeals court in California that challenges the constitutionality of inclusion of ONUG in the Pledge. He's been waiting nearly two years for the court to decide whether it is constitutionally permissible for ONUG to remain in the Pledge on the purported grounds that it is supposedly religiously neutral, but Mike can't seem to get the appellate court to issue a ruling.
I wonder why. Do you suppose it's because it is so obvious that ONUG in the Pledge is unconstitutional, but issuing a ruling to that effect would ruin the appellate court justices' chances of ever getting nominated to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States?
You'll also be interested to know that each of the many members of Knights of Columbus that I met with and spoke to at this Fourth of July parade were extremely polite, courteous and respectful, unlike the numerous people who lined the streets and booed and swore at me for daring to stand up for atheists in a public parade.
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4 Comments
v4ri4bl3 said:
Rob, you're not the only one. There are plenty of us who feel the same way. I agree that we need to speak up more.
Off topic, do you blog here daily? If so, I wonder why I have never come across it while searching Google News.
Cheers from Florida!
Rob Sherman said:
Sometimes several times per day. Subscribe to Godless in Chicago and you'll get that automated e-mail each morning letting you know if I've posted any new articles during the previous 24 hours. There's a "Subscribe" button at the top of this page, in the navigation bar.
Megan Cottrell said:
What a ridiculous decision by the court! Yes, the pledge is a mindless repetition to some, but some people are going to find the phrase "one nation under God" deeply meaningful - either because they believe it strongly or because they do not. And that's precisely the situation we're supposed to be avoiding - ostracizing people because of their religious beliefs.
If it's just rote repetition, why don't we just stop saying the pledge all together? Certainly, we can teach children better ways to be patriotic than reciting some words. And kids should know that being patriotic means being willing to accept the diversity of beliefs as a part of America and being American.
Good post. Thanks for pointing out the spinelessness of today's judges.
Don said:
I've never understood the need to recite the POA daily other than to brainwash our kids. Why the need to recite it more than once? I only recited my wedding vows once. Maybe I should find the video of my wedding and write it down because I don't remember the exact words. Actually, it doesn't matter what the words were because they were spoken from my heart, and it was just a feeble translation into English of just a few of the millions of things I feel for my wife. I tell her that I love her several times every single day, but that's because my feeling pour out of me whenever I see, feel or hear her.
President Obama doesn't recite the oath of office of president daily, does he? Perhaps his predecessor should have. Maybe if he had, he wouldn't have shredded the Constitution the way he did if he had 'protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America' on his mind every day.
I'm an election judge. Election judges at every polling place recite an oath just before the polls open. We don't do it every day. We only do it on election day, which comes one to three days per year, depending on location. Maybe the schools could just recite the POA on the first and last days of the school year and at the beginning of assemblies.
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