Another Symbol of American History and Religion Falls

Now that U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton, a Carter appointee with many loony decisions behind him, has ruled that the Pledge of Allegiance’s reference to one nation "under God" violates school children's right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God", a new battle has been joined. The judge has granted legal standing to two families represented by an atheist who lost his previous battle before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The founders of our country were well aware that history teaches that when there is one established religion, there is tyranny; when there are two religions, there is war; and when there are many religions, there can be peace and freedom.

This is why they were so careful to arrange a structure of government that would never recognize and support a particular religion. On the other hand, belief in an Almighty God was evident in everything they said and did, and is ingrained in our Constitution, our Declaration of Independence, our coinage and in our public institutions and practices.

Until the wider acceptance of Darwinism, and the cultural revolution of the 1960’s and 1970’s, among other influences, the separation of religion and government together with the acknowledgement of God in our history seemed to work pretty well.

Nowadays, not a day goes by that some group or person is attempting to remove from public life another symbol of God or Christianity – from the pledge, as above, from the courthouse, from the commons, etc. Why do conservatives cringe and react when these things happen? We object to these removal attempts because we sense that hatred of religion is often the motivating factor, and not protection of the Constitution.

There is a big difference between passing a law that establishes a state religion, and recognizing that belief in God is enmeshed in our history and enshrined in our traditions. As far as the pledge is concerned, another symbol of American traditions has been threatened, one that we have had for more than 50 years. It is absurd that a school child can’t just ignore the words he has been taught to hate so that all the rest of us can have our children learn to honor a traditional American value. The mention of God in the pledge has nothing to do with the establishment of a state religion. This is tyranny of the majority by a tiny minority.