Thor Q. Mada

Yes, David, communism is gone (and rightly so) but look around , a bit further than St Petersburg, and tell me if the world became a better place. Don't you notice that religious fanatism is on the rise ever since the demise of the alternative??
As if there are no bounds anymore. Do you want to live in a place (just like former Russia) where the government is not only deciding what you do, but also what you think, and indoctrinating you to think like them.
Calling a judge stupid for correctly interpreting the law??
Did you see how stupid it looked all those senators calling that judge stupid. Did you hear how feable there arguments where?
When will you have religious police??

hezekiah jones

Wrong again. The United States is a secular nation by virtue of its Constitution.

Obviously not "filled." Millions of Americans do not believe in "God." Millions upon millions more do not believe in your "God."

Irrelevant. This case was filed on a strictly Constitutional issue, and the plaintiff prevailed based on settled Supreme Court precedent.

hezekiah jones

If that is really the case then, by definition, you should support a Pledge of Allegiance to the flag and the nation for which it stands that includes all Americans, not just those that believe in "God."

copernicus

Oops! You haven't been paying attention. Freedom of religion was overturned in Russia. The Russian Orthodox Church felt itself threatened by Western evangelical Christians. Therefore, they passed a law that only allowed "approved" religions to proselytize. The idea was that the Orthodox Russian religion should not have to compete on equal terms with other religious sects. The US is less oppressive in this respect. Here, we only demand that children of unorthodox religions be made to confront their peers, who have the official blessing of government. They are free to stand up to social pressure, but no one is outlawing their parents' views on religion. Not yet, anyway.

wordsmyth

Freedom of religion also means freedom from religion.

Berenger Sauniere

Maybe that was the plan all along, to make a
religious test out of the pledge. That is in effect, what it became in 1954.

Thor Q. Mada

Correct!!
If you now would refuse to take the pledge only because of that sentence, you would automatically qualify as being un-patriotic.
Watch your back guys!!

David Mathews

Hello Thor Q. Mada,

David: I don't support religious fanaticism of any sort.

David: The government doesn't indoctrinate religion in the Pledge of Allegiance. "God" is a word is common usage in language, so I suppose that the young student isn't hearing anything that she hasn't heard before.

David: There is little doubt that the appellate court's decision will be overturned. Citizens of this great country have every right to disagree with and criticize the decision of those judges.

Sincerely,

David Mathews

David Mathews

Hello Hezekiah,

David: The use of "God" in the Pledge doesn't infringe on atheists and others who do not believe in God. Those people who do not believe in the God and those who have a polytheistic or pantheistic concept of God can easily substitute their own definition for that word.

Sincerely,

David Mathews

David Mathews

Hello Berenger Sauniere,

David: When I was in elementary school there was at least one student who would not say the pledge because of her religion. She was a Jehovah's Witness, and they are not allowed to say the pledge.

I did not perceive any persecution of the child by peers because of this refusal.

Is there any evidence at all that the teacher or the students persecuted Dr. Newdow's child because of her atheism?

It seems to me that Dr. Newdow initiated this lawsuit for his own reasons, not because his daughter was suffering any injustice.

Sincerely,

David Mathews