The Pledge of
Allegiance
with the phrase "One Nation Under God"
is Under Attack
Mr.
Newdow is
offended that
his daughter, has to hear the word "God" in the pledge each day;
therefore he wants to
prevent her, and all the children in America from being FREE to
say the word GOD at school. The mother
Sandra Banning
and daughter, who are both Christians, have left him, but he wants to
have control over his daughter, even though the daughter stays with the
mother most of the time. Even if the Supreme Court rules
against the Pledge the daughter said, "I will still say 'one nation
under God' under my breath, and no one will know that I'm breaking the
law."
Newdow argues "One Nation Under God" violates
the "Separation
of Church and State" principle. There is not such clause, "Separation of
Church and State", in the U.S.
Constitution or Bill of Rights.
There is an establishment clause and a free exercise clause in the
First Amendment. The phase "One
Nation
Under God" does not establish a National Religion, but only
acknowledges a long tradition of the majority of Americans from many
different faiths, believing in God. In fact our national motto is "In
God We Trust" which dates back to the coins of the Civil War era, and
the "Star Spangled Banner" written by Francis Scott Key in 1814.
If Mr. Newdow is offended by the word
God in the pledge, then he should
be offended by the national motto, and if he is offended by our motto,
then he should be offended by our National Anthem, and then he must be
offend by America itself. Remember John Witherspoon signer of the
Declaration of Independence said, "If you oppose God
then you oppose America." It should be noted that Mr.
Newdow continues to bring lawsuites against God and seeks to ban the
National Motto from our buildings and money.
The Supreme Court heard the oral arguments for the Pledge Case
on March 24, 2004. Mr. Newdow represented himself in the
court. A number of the Justices asked pointed questions, and
appeared to be skeptical of Mr. Newdow's claim that the pledge becomes
a prayer by adding the words, "One Nation Under God."
- A new National Poll taken in
March 2004 showed that 84% of Americans want to keep the Pledge as is.
- In a separate Court Case Mr.
Newdow lost his case to remove Opening Prayers from the House and
Senate.
- This case has generated great
interest, and a large number of groups have filed briefs with the
court. Over 50 different groups are involved in this case, such
as
(For the Pledge as is) U.S. Senate, U.S. House,
Governor of California, ACLJ., Liberty Council, GrassFire, Focus on
the Family, Wall Builders, Alliance Defense Fund, Christian Legal
Society and the American Legion, to
name a few.
The U.S. Supreme Court handed down its
ruling on Pledge case on June 14th, 2004.
While the ruling keeps the pledge as is with the words "One Nation
Under God" in it (for now),
this issue is not really resolved. The Court really side stepped
the issue of Constitutionality. The justices said that Mr. Newdow
did not have legal custody over his daughter so the court would not rule on this case.
Justices Rehnquist, Thomas, and O'Connor wrote in their
decision that they felt the words "Under God" did not violate the
Constitution. The ACLU
and the Americans United for
the Separation of Church and State have stated that they will
bring other cases to court, working through the liberal California
Ninth Circuit Court. This issue will rise again so it is very
important that the CRA bill is passed in
Congress to stop these legal attacks on the Constitution. If you
want to keep the Pledge with "Under
God", then we urge you to contact your Congressmen to support
the CRA bill. You can print out a Petition,
fill it out, sign it and mail to your Congressmen.
You can Print out your own Bumper
Sticker, by right clicking on image above, saving the file and later
printing it on a color printer, you can get your bumper sticker
laminated at Kinko's.
I'm still very
skeptical of the Court's continuous ruling on
religious practices in this country as their actions violate the First
Amendment. To learn more about the Courts, activist Judges click here.,
Return to Our
Republican Democracy Site Map CRA Bill questions & answers
The July 8, 2002 issue of Newsweek had a
cover story on the Pledge Issue if you want to do further reading on
the subject
Last Update Apr. 2006