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Federal Court: "Under God" OK in Pledge
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday, in two rulings, rejected claims that “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance and “In God We Trust” on currency violate the US Constitution’s Establishment Clause.
Way back in 2004, Michael Newdow, an emergency room doctor from Sacramento, CA, sued Elk Grove Unified School District for forcing his 10-year-old daughter to say the words “under God” as part of the Pledge of Allegiance. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2004 ruled that Newdow was correct in his assertion that this constituted a government establishment of religion; the US Supreme Court, however, dismissed the case because Newdow did not have custody of his daughter.
The dismissal came June 14, 2004, 50 years to the day from the time our “founding father” Ike Eisenhower introduced “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance in an effort to distinguish the US from “Godless Communists”.
Newdow responded by filing a case in 2005 on behalf of other parents in the same district.
Judge Carlos Bea, who was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2003, wrote for the majority in Thursday’s 2-1 ruling.
The Pledge is Constitutional. The Pledge of Allegiance serves to unite our vast nation through the proud recitation of some of the ideals upon which our Republic was founded.
Was our Republic founded in 1954?
The dissenting judge, Stephen Reinhardt, was one of the three who voted in Newdow’s favor back in 2004. He wrote a 123-page dissent. In very small part:
Under no sound legal analysis adhering to binding Supreme Court precedent could this court uphold state-directed, teacher-led, daily recitation of the ‘under God’ version of the Pledge of Allegiance by children in public schools.
Newdow isn’t finished. He plans to ask the court to re-hear the case; if they refuse, he plans to appeal to the US Supreme Court. He doesn’t want people to think that this is about hating Jesus, though:
The whole argument that ‘under God’ wasn’t placed into the pledge for religious purposes is bogus. I hope people recognize this is not against God or people who believe in God. It’s about the government not treating people equally on the basis of their lawful religious views.
Even the US attorney who defended the lawsuit agrees that it’s religious. Says Greg Katsas:
I think these two phrases encapsulate the philosophy on which the nation was founded. There is a religious aspect to saying “One nation under God,” but it isn’t like a prayer. When someone says the pledge, they’re not praying to God, they’re pledging allegiance to the country, the flag and the ideals of the country.
The nation was founded in 1954? Being ruled by an imaginary friend is one of the ideals of the country?
Michael Newdow’s website, RestoreThePledge.com, provides you the opportunity to get involved in the campaign to restore the pledge to its pre-1954, secular ideal.
Related articles:
- Still divisible under god: Supreme Court opts not to review Pledge challenge
- FFRF asks Supreme Court to overturn ‘under God’ in pledge decision
- Driggs teacher removes 'Under God' from Pledge of Allegiance
- POLL: Should ‘Under God’ Be Removed From Pledge Of Allegiance? – Wake County – MyNC.com
- FFRF remains committed to fighting religious pledge
Jenny Donati is webmistress and co-editor of Secular News Daily. Jenny is an outspoken secularist who believes firmly in the separation of church and state. She demands evidence to support arguments, and holds herself to the same standard. She doesn't write about herself in the third person . . . but there's a first time for everything.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry.
I am pleased that the words 'under God" had been reenstated. We are a proud
nation and as the saying goes the majority rules. Newdow needs to get a life of his own. He is a miserable man drowning in his own fears. He needs to recognize that one day he will have a chance to meet the God that he curses like Saul did when he saw Jesus a man that he presecuted daily through his
saints and followers. Oh! Another thing Atheists say there is no God, well who do they call on when they are injured or a loved passes away. Here are their exact word Oh! God why.
I have yet to hear an atheist call on your imaginary friend during a time of crisis, Celia. Can you provide evidence that this happens?
Well, to be fair, many atheists do say "oh god" and "oh my god" and "jesus christ" and whatnot. I'd say the problem with Celia's statement is not so much the claim that atheists use the phrase, but the assumption that using a common expression implies belief in the original meaning of it.
In Denmark – one of the most atheistic countries in the word – for instance, almost all expletives involve god or, more often, satan. If you hurt yourself, you invariably say "ouch for satan", but no one would ever take that to imply belief in the antichrist.
That talking about or merely saying "god" is an admission of belief, is one of the most pathetic, straw-grasping arguments we hear.
Tell me Celia, would you be ok with a law if the majority said all people with the name Celia are to be enslaved by the state they are living in? If you say no you are a hypocrite. This government isn't actually set up for majority rule, it is set up to protect individuals. You need to relearn what it means to be a true american.
Hey Baconsbud are you afraid to use your real name, I'm not. First of all that's the same scenerio everyone comes up with. Is that all you can say. The words "under God" wasn't
put in the Pledge to make everyone think that they have to worship God, it was put there
as to enhance the American's dream. A dream that consists of life, liberty and the pursuit
of happpiness. I am proud to stand up and recite the Pledge of Allegiance as was your
forefathers and mine. If you don't want to say the words "under God" then just don't say
them and leave it alone. I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS ONE NATION UNDER GOD IN
DIVISIBLE WITH LIBERY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.. THANK YOU JESUS AND I WILL PRAY
FOR YOU BACONSBUD.
No not afraid of using my real name. I just like using this name for personnel reasons. You failed to answer my question though. You say you believe the USA was set up for majority rule but it wasn't. What does life, liberty and pursuit of happiness have to do with the term under god? Have you ever checked the history of why under god was added to the pledge? Do you think it has always been there? So people have stood up and said the pledge but it wasn't until 1954 that under god was added and my father wouldn't have said it in school. You have failed to make a good point for keeping it.
Anyone that believes it is anything other then putting christianity first is lying to themselves because they know they hate the US Constitution as it stands. Do you hate what really makes this country great? It isn't religion but the US Constitution that makes this country what it is. Try doing some studying of the intentions of the founding fathers and why they made the Constitution and Bill of Rights as they did and you might begin to understand why the original pledge didn't have under god in it.
If you really want to know my name it isn't hard to find it if you know how. It takes all of two little clicks to find my name.
Celia, I'd like to clarify something for you.
As Baconsbud has pointed out, the words "under God" were added to the Pledge in 1954. They were not put there to "enhance the American's dream". They were put there to distinguish the United States from the "godless Communists" in Russia and China.
I suggest you study your history just a bit, to understand the timeline and the purpose of this addition. Our founding fathers — and for that matter, my father, a Purple Heart-decorated veteran of WWII — did NOT grow up pledging their allegiance to your god. They pledged allegiance to the United States of America.
Our founding fathers specifically set up a government which would not establish a state religion or endorse a particular religion. How far we have strayed!
"God" is a general term, so even if they did say, "God," there's nothing indicating that they were talking about any specific God. My God is not the same as your God. You're God is yourself. My God is the triune being that Jesus Christ is a part of. You people seem to forget the fact that back in the days of our revolution, it was commonly accepted the Christ was the Messiah sent by the Jewish God. Yet, they neglected to name this God in anywhere in our nation. Don't you think there was a reason for that?
Because the term "God" rather than "Christ" means in general, whatever God you deem to be God. An Atheist, who believes in no God, has only to look at humankind, as we are the species that is capable of reasoning things out and manipulating our universe to how we deem fit, then we are the God's of this universe.
The word "God" does not mean Jesus Christ. They are two different words.
For a group that pretends to be so educated, you all really get hung up on symantics, you know that?
Now if you're agnostic or whatever it is that believes that there is a higher power, but not necessarily what anyone thinks it is, then who cares about "under God," God in that case would mean whoever it is that is the real God.
Yeah, I'm going to mean Jesus Christ, the Father, and Holy Spirit who are one and three at the same time when I say it, AND THAT'S MY RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But you can mean whatever you want to mean when you say it.
It does not say under the "god of your choice" in the Plegde of allegiance it says under God. What we object to is the fact that the phrase was added at all no matter what it says. We are not "One Nation Under God Indivisible". We are "One Nation very divided" by this statement of untruth.
Furthermore, you have no right to tell me that I cannot honor MY God in MY commitment to our nation.
You don't want to honor any God, fine, then your commitment means nothing. If you are your own God, then honor that fact and then solidify your commitment on the honor of yourself, otherwise all your saying is words.
So you are not only telling us that we have a Plege of Allegiance that you don't mind is a lie to some but that if we do not like the lie we have no honor and commitment. I disagree, we have a very great commitment to this country and part of that commitment is to keeping church and state seperate and removing religion from our public places, pledges and currency is what we need to do so that all can be free.
Yes Celia we are a proud nation and we are too proud a nation to allow the people who believe in a god to force the ones who don't into lying every time they pledge allegiance to this great country. The Pledge of Allegiance was written by a minister who wrote it without a mention of God because God does not belong in our Nations Pledge or on our nations currency. If you truly believe in God that belief is in your heart and does not have to be paraded in front of everyone. By the insertion of those word in the 50's they have made a mockery of the Pledge and have made this one nation divided by religious bigotry.