[NeoCrusade]

The circuit court is right.

If The Pledge of Allegiance is an official national institution like the Stars and Stripes or the National Anthem, then it should be inclusive to all Americans, and not tailored to Christians and Jews.

"So if you don't like it, don't say it!". Well, that's not how it's supposed to be. There's not an alternate Pledge, there's just one, and the insinuation is that in order to properly pledge your allegiance to our flag and our republic you must state your belief in the Judeo-Christian God.

"This is awful during time of war! The Taliban would be laughing at us right now!!" Well, I guarantee you that if the Taliban were in charge of this country, you can be sure that every pledge you made would state "under God". Every document you signed, every vow you took and every contact you signed would proclaim "under God".

"We conservative Republicans should take to the streets! There should be widespread civil disobedience!" Yeah, that's a good idea. Let's think... who do we usually see taking to the streets in civil disobedience because of religion. Can you say "Muslim Fundamentalists"? Is that who we want to emulate?

I cant understand you "conservatives"! You all want the Federal Government to butt out, to be small and tiny and to only provide for the national defense and printing of coinage but when it comes to Christianity you all want the Federal Government to put "God" all over everything! Shouldn't the Federal Fovernment butt out of our affairs?

In closing, there have been and are currently millions of wonderful, patriotic and loyal Americans who are neither Jewish or Christian, and they deserve to be able to proclaim their belief in the American way of life without their religious faith (or lack thereof) beig a qualifier.

Thank you all for your time, I fully expect to be banned for this post.

[sailor4321]

You've got a point there. In fact, now that I think about it, the Taliban have more gun rights than we do and they don't even have a Constitutional right to them. Let's bring in the Taliban...

[another cricket]

You never listened to all the verses of the National Anthem did you?

"And this be our motto
In God is our trust"

Try another argument. That one doesn't hold water.

a.cricket

[ScreamingFist]

"In closing, there have been and are currently millions of wonderful, patriotic and loyal Americans who are neither Jewish or Christian, and they deserve to be able to proclaim their belief in the American way of life without their religious faith (or lack thereof) beig a qualifier."

This has nothing to do with faith, it has everything to do with the elimination of patriotism, the Founding Fathers and any belief in the workings of America. If you're gonna hit a baseball, you have to start your swing BEFORE the strike comes over the plate. You just watched a fastball go by.

[Britton J Wingfield]

My oath is to the Constitution, and I need no other pledge. I'm not offended by the God reference, though. Originally the pledge was written by a socialist theologian to promote the idea of centralized federal control, as opposed to state's rights, so it's certainly not my ox being gored here.

[stanz]

I happen to agree, but it never really bothered me whether or not the words "under God" were included or not.
I can remember when Dwight Eisenhower added those words- - -and you thought I was a Spring chicken!
At any rate, we Americans all have so many things to worry about - - that is the least of them. I'll pledge allegiance if I have to do it in Italian!

[Kerberos]

Neo,

Thanks for your excellent post.

As I read through the post here I am just amazed at the level of hysteria that abound in them. One would think that the court had ruled that all Christians should be thrown out of their homes and into the street. But then again I have learned from my time here on FR that Christians seem to really like to see themselves as being persecuted, and so I guess any excuse will do.

If I understand this ruling correctly, and I believe I do, the main point of contention here is the phrase "Under God". So if that is removed from the pledge any school in the district will be able to use it in their daily routine. I think it should also be noted that this decision is only binding on the locals which are under the jurisdiction of the court, not the whole country as it seem many of the posters here think.

I have always failed to understand why Christians think that the rest of the world is out to get them? What is it that they do not grasp about people not wanting their Christian belief system shoved down their throat? Much the same as the colonist did not what British taxes shoved down theirs.

Curious character quirk indeed.