FRDB Archives

Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The archives are read only.


Go Back   FRDB Archives > Archives > IIDB ARCHIVE: 200X-2003, PD 2007 > IIDB Philosophical Forums (PRIOR TO JUN-2003)
Welcome, Peter Kirby.
You last visited: Today at 05:55 AM

 
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 03-05-2002, 11:59 AM   #1
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: U.S.
Posts: 2,565
Post A mistake to add "God" to the Pledge?

I just read the "In God We Trust" portion of a CNN Crossfire transcript here:

<a href="http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0203/04/cf.00.html" target="_blank">http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0203/04/cf.00.html</a>

The portion I'm referring to is burried 2/3 of the way down or so, but it's an interesting read. It's a debate on posting "In God We Trust" in schools.

What struck me, however, was a brief exchange in which the pro-"In God We Trust" guy puts the church-state separation guy on the spot by asking if it was a mistake to put "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. And the other guy waffles around clearly not wanting to say "Yes, it was a mistake."

Why not just say it? Clearly he thinks it is so. It's a logical outgrowth of his argument, and it weakens that arguement for him to be all wishy-washy and evasive. Is it so damaging in the public eye to oppose "under God" in the pledge when you are already opposing IGWT?

Jamie
Jamie_L is offline  
Old 03-06-2002, 02:36 AM   #2
atheist_in_foxhole
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Post

Quote:
Originally posted by Jamie_L:
<strong>
What struck me, however, was a brief exchange in which the pro-"In God We Trust" guy puts the church-state separation guy on the spot by asking if it was a mistake to put "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. And the other guy waffles around clearly not wanting to say "Yes, it was a mistake."

Why not just say it? Clearly he thinks it is so.</strong>
Because he's afraid of being called atheist or anti-religion. And in the American political arena it's the kiss of death to be called atheist on anti-religion.

I hope that someday we will have public officials who have the guts to come out and oppose this "In God we trust" garbage that the religionists are spreading, but I doubt that it will happen in my lifetime.

I recall watching Crossfire a few months ago during the stem-cell debate, and when Novak (the same guy from your link) tried to inject all of this god nonsense into a debate about stem-cells, one of the scientists just came out and said that he didn't believe in any gods and thought that religion was completely irrelevant to the discussion. Novak looked stunned. He was like: "You don't believe in Gawd?!?"

So at least *some* are willing to publicly oppose this religious insanity, but like I said I think it will be a long, long time before politicians have that kind of courage.

One other thing...the same Xian group that successfully got "under god" into the pledge is now campaigning to get "born and unborn" added to the end (after "liberty and justice for all"). I was watching C-Span recently and one of the state legislatures they were showing started with the pledge complete with the "born and unborn" crap. If we don't stand up to these religious zealots we're going to lose that battle as well.

[ March 06, 2002: Message edited by: atheist_in_foxhole ]</p>
 
Old 03-06-2002, 07:20 PM   #3
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 7,198
Post

Just once I'd like someone to not only say "Yes!" in a public forum like that, but to explain to everyone *why* it was put there--to Smoke Out Them Godless Commies in one of the most intolerant periods of the 20th century. Sigh.

--W@L
Writer@Large is offline  
Old 03-06-2002, 07:29 PM   #4
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
Posts: 1,358
Post

Quote:
Originally posted by atheist_in_foxhole:
<strong>... now campaigning to get "born and unborn" added to the end (after "liberty and justice for all")...</strong>
I'll bet they wouldn't go for "saved and unsaved" though.
Arrowman is offline  
Old 03-07-2002, 11:57 AM   #5
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: California
Posts: 6,196
Lightbulb

I hope that someday we will have public officials who have the guts to come out and oppose this "In God we trust" garbage that the religionists are spreading, but I doubt that it will happen in my lifetime.

Well, I am developing an ever increasing interest in politics and I am thinking highly of possibly become a public official myself. Granted, it may be something as little as being on the city council, but it would still be interesting.

And If I was elected, you can bet that I would have the guts to come out.
Secular Elation is offline  
 

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 04:02 PM.

Top

This custom BB emulates vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2015, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.