I pledge allegiance…

So I run a discussion list called NoRules. I don't really “own” the list – no one does. It just is. But I provide the list serve for it because I got sick of reply-to-all hassles. I lurk, mostly, but sometimes feel moved to post. All that is pretty much irrelevant right now though.

Anyhow, a post came through that I felt I needed to answer. Here's my response:

>> I received from a member of another group, "The very next message

>> after yours in my In box, a CNN news alert, was:
>>    >-- Federal appeals court rules Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional
>>    >because of words 'under God,' according to The Associated Press."
>>
>> Anyone out there got that?
>
>Heard it, and am thoroughly disgusted, outraged, and ready to scream.  There
>is no Constitutional right that guarantees protection against personal
>offense.  Fuck them.  I'll say The Pledge as I wish and so will my children.

I'm not.  I'm quite pleased.  The original pledge, written in 1892 by
Francis Bellamy was a patriotic oath, not a prayer.  It had no mention
of God:  "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it
stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

In 1954, Congress after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, added the
words, "under God," to the Pledge.

What I didn't know however, is what Ike said in 1954 - that  millions of
American schoolchildren would now be proclaiming their dedication to
"the Almighty."

*That* is wrong, unconstitutional, and contrary to the whole bloody
reason this country was founded.

What I find mind-boggling is how Congress is up in arms about it.  It
tells me that they care nothing for the Constitution or for the very
principals that this nation was founded upon.  It makes me sick.

"Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law." -
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814

"The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the
Christian religion." - Treaty of Tripoli (June 7, 1797)


"...an amendment was proposed by inserting the words, 'Jesus
Christ...the holy author of our religion,' which was rejected 'By a
great majority in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle
of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the
Mohammedan, the Hindoo and the Infidel of every denomination.'" - Thomas
Jefferson