Posted on 07/02/2002 5:03:32 PM PDT by Camber-G
Hundreds of Idahoans told the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday the Pledge of Allegiance is perfect the way it is and that schoolchildren should still get to utter the words “under God” when they recite the pledge.
Gathered on the Statehouse steps, they sang patriotic songs and declared that the United States is “one nation under God” even though a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals says the reference to God in the pledge is unconstitutional.
“The problem is not with the Pledge of Allegiance,” Attorney General Al Lance told the crowd. “The problem is with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.”
“If necessary, we will take it to the United States Supreme Court because this is worth fighting for, and we will fight,” Gov. Dirk Kempthorne shouted from behind a podium tucked snugly in a crowd of Boy Scouts and elected leaders.
Among the scouts were Terry McBride´s sons and nephews. The Nampan watched proudly at the foot of the Capitol.
McBride said the decision “goes against what the country was founded on.”
He´s not alone in that belief. The panel´s ruling last week ignited a furor nationwide.
The court opined that Congress´ addition of “under God” to the pledge in 1954 “takes a position with respect to the purely religious question of the existence and identity of God. A profession that we are a nation ´under God´ is identical, for Establishment Clause purposes, to a profession that we are a nation ´under Jesus,´ a nation ´under Vishnu,´ a nation ´under Zeus,´ or a nation ´under no god,´ because none of these professions can be neutral with respect to religion.”
The panel stayed implementation of its ruling until further appeals could be heard, and many legal scholars predict the panel´s interpretation won´t stick.
If the decision reaches the nation´s highest court, the ruling is likely to be overturned, the scholars said.
Boise businessman Moshen “Max” Mohammadi told the audience, “So many have died for what (the flag) stands for, so honor it and respect it.”
Mohammadi said he has never considered the pledge´s proclamation of “one nation under God” to speak to only one religion.
“I never thought of the words ´In God We Trust´ or ´Under God´ as Christian-like because all religions pay respect to God,” he said.
The demonstration drew only one vocal objector. Carol Bachelder of Boise, carried a placard that read “One nation under the Constitution” and shook a can of rocks as the “under God” portion of the pledge was spoken over loudspeakers.
“I believe the rocks are symbolic,” she said, “in that Christians have rocks in their heads.”
Well, she just lost any credibility she could possibly ever hope to have.
The U.S.A., a nation conceived on the premise that we receive our unalienable rights from our Creator, is the most tolerant and open society in history.
Compare that with Communist China, where expressing a belief in the power of anything other than the State will get you killed, or the Soviet Union where people of faith languished in the Gulag Archipelago for years.
Yeah, that for your "atheism" you freaks. If you were in charge we would ALL have occasion to be VERY AFRAID.
Her self-stated goal is to be "the most hated woman in Boise."
LOL ... she's making headway I guess.
I’ve done a number of protests for animal rights and gun control, and I’ve put up with a lot of hecklers, but I have never been a heckler myself. So I decided, “Well, other people do it. I’ll do it too.” When the poor woman spoke whose son Paul Reyna died at football practice at Boise State University, she was saying how her son decided to choose Boise State because he saw the Table Rock cross and took it as an omen. Unbelievably, I yelled “The cross killed your son.” rest of pathetic, self-congratulatory article
Leni
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