Federal Appeals Court Rules Pledge of Allegiance Unconstitutional

[innova]

this is from washingtonpost.com

SAN FRANCISCO –– A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the Pledge of Allegiance is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion and cannot be recited in schools.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a 1954 act of Congress inserting the phrase "under God" after the words "one nation" in the pledge. The court said the phrase violates the so-called Establishment Clause in the Constitution that requires a separation of church and state.

"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," Judge Alfred T. Goodwin wrote for the three-judge panel.

The court, in the nation's first ruling of its kind, said that when President Eisenhower signed the 1954 legislation, he wrote that "millions of our schoolchildren will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty."

The court noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has said students cannot hold religious invocations at graduations and cannot be compelled to recite the pledge. But when the pledge is recited in a classroom, a student who objects is confronted with an "unacceptable choice between participating and protesting," the appeals court said.

"Although students cannot be forced to participate in recitation of the pledge, the school district is nonetheless conveying a message of state endorsement of a religious belief when it requires public school teachers to recite, and lead the recitation of, the current form of the pledge," the court said.

© 2002 The Associated Press

well i'll be damned

[Nash]

wow, we had a discussion about this in my law class last year. i never thought i'd actually see a ruling on it.

[James]

WooHoo! About time.

Nothing against the Pledge of Allegiance, but I might as well have been reciting the ingredients of my cereal for all the words meant. Also, that "under God" bit always was out of place. Is Christianity the official religion of the US, or is the governement properly agnostic/indifferent? Make up your mind!

Agnostic/indifferent- I don't know and I don't care
Militant agnostic- I don't know and neither do you

James

[Nick]

Thank goodness! One more strike against the Brothers Grimm.

[Nash]

Originally posted by James
Is Christianity the official religion of the US, or is the governement properly agnostic/indifferent? Make up your mind!

well, christian morale is deeply rooted in U.S. moral and ethics since this country was founded on those beliefs.

[burgundy]

Well, this doesn't control the whole country, but it does apply to that circuit. I'm sure this decision will be appealed and reversed, given the composition of the Supreme Court. I really don't the Pledge is worth litigating over, but then again I've never had a person problem reciting it.

[Shin Johnpv]

you have got to be fucking kidding me

something that bassicaly stands for AMERICA and not any one particular religion

i give up

may be time to move to the mother country of Italy

[Regus]

Do they really believe that saying "under god" is going to have some profound affect on our youth? The way I remember it, back when I was in elementary school, we used to recite the pledge like emotionless robots, never once thinking about it's deeper meanings.

It was just something we had to do every morning, nothing more, nothing less.

[BioMechanic]

Like Regus said: I haven't said the Pledge since, what, FOURTH grade? And even then, I only said it because my teachers wanted me to - I didn't understand it back then, and the fact I didn't is basically inconsequential.

It's SO possible to respect the Christian traditions on which this country was founded and not believe in them one iota. I'm non-Christian and have been for my entire life, but does that mean I'm not patriotic? Of course not.

This kind of PC nonsense really rubs me the wrong damn way.

[James]

If it's something you say like a robot (and I did the same thing) then why would it matter if it gets dumped or not?

Just change the 3-syllable "under god" bit to something else and carry on, if you just can't live without the pledge. It's really no big deal at all.

There's a wave of crap patriotism that's swept the country since a particular September day last year that's caused much more harm than good. We're throwing away freedoms left and right and that brain-dead shit in the White House is leading the charge. Or the people with their hands up his ass are making him look like he is, whichever. Any sign that people are going to stop blindly chanting USA, USA and start thinking about things again, even if a bit too deeply, is fine by me.

I make it a point never to discuss religion/politics if I can possibly avoid it. Unless someone has a specific crying need to know something, I'm turning into an observer in this thread. It's for the best, really.

James