dimossi

Just FYI, ABC Nightline's subject tonight will be the Pledge debate and the connection between church and state. Let's hope that the tonight's episode is accurate and unbiased. Comment on the show at its conclusion on this thread.

[QUOTE]
TONIGHT'S SUBJECT: Where does religion fit into American politics? In the wake of the furor over the decision by a federal appeals court on the Pledge of Allegiance, what about "In God We Trust?" Does this country treat religion differently than most others? We'll look at the connection between church and state tonight.

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One of the surprising things, at least it was surprising to me, that came out of the flap over the Pledge of Allegiance decision, is the fact that many schools no longer have the students recite the pledge. I remember doing it every day through elementary school, but I honestly don't remember when it stopped being a part of the daily routine. I don't know that as kids we ever really thought about the words that much, except to wonder what "indivisible" meant, and how it was supposed to be pronounced. But "under God?" That was just another part of the pledge.

Now polls show that the U.S. is a very religious country. Actually, let me rephrase that, that Americans are a very religious people. But what role should religion play in our political life. Religion rarely used to become a political issue. President Kennedy faced anti-Catholic bias when he was running, but I think that for the most part, a candidate's religion just wasn't talked about that much. Jimmy Carter changed that to a large degree, being as open about his faith as he was. And gradually everything changed. The rise of the "religious right." Whether or not a President or a candidate actually attended church became an issue. For a country that has an official position on the separation of church and state, we talk about religion a lot.

And as many people pointed out, "God" doesn't appear in just the Pledge. What about our money? "In God We Trust." And of course, those fights over Christmas displays that have become another holiday tradition. Should there be a dividing line somewhere? What role should religion play in our public and political lives? Those are the questions that we're going to address tonight. And we'll look at some other countries as well, including some that have official religions, and how religion impacts politics in those nations. Ted will be anchoring tonight and John Donvan will do tonight's report.

Buffman

IMHO, the show was very disappointing and softball.

Not once did anyone deal with the real issue...Government sponsored religion. All Ted kept doing was talking about the ABC poll that showed 89% of America was in favor of keeping "under God" in the pledge. One guest...

<a href="http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/BIOS/dsouza.html" target="_blank">http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/BIOS/dsouza.html</a>

.... sounded like every right wing Republican I have ever heard. He spent more time attempting to convince people that he knew what the Founding Fathers really meant about Church-State separation than anyone else in the country. Basically he was inferring that they didn't want religion separated from the public square because they all knew that our rights were given to us by God. (Retch!)

The show did more to support "under God" than almost any I have seen on the major "netjerks." VERY DISAPPOINTING.

Krieger

I saw it too. They showed too many fundies and no Atheists.

Zimyatin

That show blew. D'sousa represented the right wing and the other guy was noncommittal. Ted Koppel has let me down. And D'sousa. He has an uncanny way of making a point by changing the subject. When Koppel asked him whether he was bothered by a court suspending it's decision based on public opinion, D'sousa went into a rant on why the decision was wrong. Should the 1954 Supreme Court have suspended it's Brown v. Bd of Ed. decision based on public discontent?

galiel

Extremely disappointing. Earlier this year I saw Koppel do a remarkable job with a town meeting between Israelis and Palestinians, truly and example of the power of journalism to get to the heart of the matter and to illuminate issues without taking sides.

This show, by contrast, was poorly put together, poorly researched, and very imbalanced. It did little to educate the public about the fundamental issues at stake. I did not expect a show supporting our position, but I did have high hopes for a balanced discussion.

It was the closest thing to a misuse of Nightline's credibility to push a partisan POV that I have ever seen.

Berenger Sauniere

The Press...oops, I mean Entertainment business, is Ga-Ga over religion. These networks are basically just church/state-sponsored propaganda machines. Somehow the media, (especially the electronic media), has appointed itself as some sort of guardian angel of the religious realm (read:Judeo/XTN). My local news programs are constantly promoting religious stories and events. Freedom of the Press has become an oxymoron.

Stephen Maturin

My expectations for this program were rock-bottom low going in, but ABC still managed to disappoint through its choice of guests. No big surprises from D'Souza, of course. After all, this is the guy who believes that since there were a few mulatto slave owners, slavery wasn't really a racist institution. <img src="graemlins/banghead.gif" border="0" alt="[Bang Head]" /> All in all, the show was a half hour that would have been better spent doing almost anything else.