Journal: The pledge

Remember... the Bill of Rights does not state "freedom of religon", it states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". "God" is most definitely an establishment of many religions, indeed it is the core tennant of many religons. Placing a reference to a god in the Pledge is most definately a law respecting that establishment. Ergo, this should not be.

What harm would come from removing the phrase? None. Anyone who wanted to would still be able to add the phrase, just as supporters of it claim you can "just not say it". It would not remove the claimed belief in that god from the hearts and minds of the believers. Indeed, removing the phrase from the official pledge might cause people to be more thoughtfull of their god as they has to specifically think about repeating its name, instead of mindlessly reciting it as part of the Pledge.

Removing the phrase from the pledge would right an improper action of Congress that has been ignored by the courts for some 60 years. And yes, the phrase "In God we trust" should be removed from the currency also. Most will not recall that before the McCarthy era in the 50s, the money had several "cute" slogans on it, including "Mind your business".

I find it interesting that many people in support of keeping the phrase talk of the "heritage" of the phrase, and the "traditional values" of it. Traditionally the phrase was not there. The phrase is not in the spirit of the original author. The heratige of the government is one of not placing such slogans or names in public items. Our money did not have such a slogan for much more of its life than it did have one.

So yes, I support the courts decision. It was the correct legal interpitation. And yes, I am athiest.