Nixing God from America

In what must be considered one of the darkest days in American legal history, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has decided to omit the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance.

In a nation that was born out of reverence for and dependence on "the Creator" and "Divine Providence," we are now reduced to eliminating any words referring to a deity solely because they may offend a few people.

As we prepare to celebrate America's 226th birthday, the nation we know and love is at a historic crossroads as civil libertarians and radical leftists attempt to strip the religious fiber of our founding from our present-day existence. This action is founded in a literal hatred for the America of our founding.

My good friend Mathew Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel and a man who has fought next to me in a few religious freedom battles, noted that to issue this ruling because one person said they were offended is "an outrage."

"Most people," he said, "are offended every year when they make their checks out to the Internal Revenue Service, but that does not give them a constitutional right to sue to abolish the IRS." He added, "The federal court spit in the face of our veterans who shed their blood for the freedom we enjoy. If the Pledge is unconstitutional, then our currency is also called into question. Such a thought is intolerable."

Constitutional attorney Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice agreed, saying, "The finding that the phrase 'under God' … is an endorsement of religion is very troubling. … The recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance – including the phrase 'One nation under God' – is part of who we are as Americans."

That's the key – there are forces at work in our nation that want to change who we are and who we have been. They want a completely secularized society that does not even recognize the God for whom our founding fathers expressed great fondness and dependence.

I agree with Family Research Council President Ken Connor who recently said, "If the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional, so is the Declaration of Independence."

He's right. We might as well burn all the flags, tear up the Constitution and start over so that every "offended" person in this nation has the "right" to feel good and comfy.

It is high time that God-fearing, freedom-loving American people stand up and say, "Enough is enough!" If we don't do so right now, we will soon lose this culture war, as Pat Buchanan has defined it.

I, for one, am not going to sit back and allow this imbecilic decision to go unchallenged. While the ruling has been stayed pending broader review, I have launched a national campaign to gather one million names on a special petition in order to encourage the reversal of this decision.

If the court upholds its decision after review, a reversal can be achieved in only two ways: 1) The U.S. Supreme Court has the power to overturn this decision and should immediately call a special session for this purpose; 2) a constitutional amendment passed by the U.S. Congress, and also passed by 37 of our 50 state legislatures, can overrule this terrible decision and guarantee that no future court can ever do such a dastardly thing again.

The petition states: "As an American citizen and a person of faith, I am deeply troubled that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has outlawed the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance to our flag in American public schools. This nation was founded upon the Judeo-Christian ethic and, over many years, has been often re-affirmed as 'one nation under God.' America will be observing her 226th birthday July 4. This judicial blemish must not be allowed to dampen our national celebration. I plead with every U.S. official with authority to impact the reversal of this heinous ruling to use that authority now. With our nation at war and the awesome challenges we face in this new millennium, we must not alienate God, people of faith and the recognition of our national character."

Please join in this urgent petition and help me gather 1 million names that will be immediately forwarded to the nine Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, all 535 members of the U.S. Congress, all 50 state governors, every member of our 50 state legislatures and President George W. Bush.

In the meantime, I urge all Americans – in public school classrooms, at public gatherings and anywhere else – to pledge allegiance to Old Glory often and loudly. They can't put us all in jail!

I agree with Family Research Council President Ken Connor who recently said, "If the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional, so is the Declaration of Independence."

Of course the Declaration is unconstitutional -- or, rather, non-constitutional. It preceded the Constitution of 1787 by eleven years. Historical imbiciles!

Yeah, yeah, they meant to say that the Declaration has no value if it's denuded of religious references. Yet they didn't say it, and they can't grasp the difference between a statement of facts and actions by the Continental Congress (which cannot change), and a statement professing religion by teachers as government employees (which can change).

[...] In the meantime, I urge all Americans – in public school classrooms, at public gatherings and anywhere else – to pledge allegiance to Old Glory often and loudly. They can't put us all in jail!

Not one person is, or will be, put in jail for this. It is proscribing actions by government employees. Imbicility squared!

Falwell is entitled to wax wroth, but his not engaging his brain to his words -- again -- wastes his effort and our time reading him. Or the energy of, to allude to an Aristotelean "deity" I can live with, the Prime Mover of the Universe. What, that is, most of the Deist framers of the Constitution believed in, and what I mentally substituted as a kid in school for my unspoken "under God."

In essence i think there is an interesting dichotomy happening in the US. First of all there is the encapsulation and denial of everything that has to do with God.....especially through legal avenues (like the whole Pledge thing). And then simultaneously there is the adhering of what was once fringe values into the mainstream fabric....for example homosexuality and the like....and again this is through legal avenues.

Now this is my question: If it is ok for homosexuals to practice their orientation and even exalt the fact that they are so in public, why then can't Christians do the same? If homosexuals can have gay parades with total impunity why then is there protest (sometimes subtle and covert, at other times overt) whenever Christians plan something similar. It seems that whatever Christians do is always met by someone saying that the very act of Christianity is negating their rights as a citizen. And honestly that is unfair because you do not see people taking the Rainbow Coalition to court with the charge of 'disturbing the peace' or that 'my child is getting stressed by all that talk!'

And do not get me wrong...i am not here to bash homosexuals. After all one of the things that makes the US a great country is that they are free to practice what they want as long as they do nto harm others. However if they have been given that priviledge i think it is also right for Christians to have the opportunity to express their beliefs without some person rising up and claiming they are being 'subjected to pychological pain' by the presence of a cross at some park, or by two words in a patriotic pledge!

And if you scrutinize the various cases carefully you will notice that in almost all of them the complainant is usually an atheist. That to be does not make even one iota of sense....and this is why. I would somewhat understand if a Muslim came and complained against refernces of the Torah....or if a Buddhist started ranting about some kungfu movie pitting Buddist monks against Taoist priests....or maybe if a Baptist started complaining about the inundation of television with the teachings of Christian science.

However i really do not comprehend why an atheist should be disturbed by this. After all they do not believe in God....meaning that He should not be of any significance to them. It is analogous to someone showing 'pictures' of Sasquatch or the Yeti or Nessie on telly! It would not move me one bit...simply because i do not believe in such beings.

Thus, if God to them is like some cosmic Yeti, then the inclusion of two words in a pledge should not really 'affect' them! Gosh, i know if i saw a motto that said 'In Sasquatch we trust' i would not be disturbed nor perturbed....i would break out in peals of laughter! Thus, if God to atheists is simply a cosmic Yeti, why does it bother them so much whenever they see anything referring to a deity? Or are they merely trying to be dogs in a manger.

And by the way i totally believe in the separation of Church from state....there is a valid reason this was made so. However i think the current trend of calling the Pledge of Allegiance 'unpatriotic' and the banning of songs in games and the like is simply the twisting and warping of 'separation of Church and state.' Actually it seems that 'Separation of Church and State' has been warped into becoming 'Separation of Church from Everything,' which was never the way it was intended to be!

And also it seems that just one person who has a problem with a christian meeting can complain and have it shut down because it 'intrudes on their peace of mind.' Now my other question is this: is that one individual not 'intruding' on a MULTITUDE of other people? What if a Christian went and said that the Gay Pride march was 'intruding on their peace of mind' and he wanted it stopped! That guy would be labelled crazy, a fanatic, a zealot, etc etc! Yet the reverse is ok (when an atheist decides students meeting ater school to sing in the gymnasium is 'wrong').

I believe in freedom.....but i also believe in freedom for ALL! And it seems many atheists assume the term Freedom pertains only to them!

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