by patio34 30 Replies latest social current
JUNE 26, 14:22 ET
Pledge Declared Unconstitutional
By DAVID KRAVETS
Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the Pledge of Allegiance is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion and cannot be recited in schools.
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/?SITE=ALTUC&FRONTID=HOME
I bet the JWs are excited about that!
Pat
So far the legal analysts on MSNBC and FoxNews are in agreement...it will go to the Supreme Court and it will be struck down.
FoxNew had Jerry Falwell on and all he could say was "it is stupid...the people in California..figures it would happen there."
I don't think the reporter was thrilled to have Rev Falwell on and she tried to steer away from "the people of California are stupid" logic.
Wow, if they let this stand, they will have to remove "God" from everything from dollar bills to pocket change.
Edited to add: They brought up the JW's and their refusal to recite the pledge. They said no one had to recite it and if you don't agree, just don't say it.
Now the guy who brought the suit is on TV saying he is an aetheist and since he does not believe in god, his child should not have to say it...he compared it to saying "one nation under Buddha, David Koresh, the Dali Lama." He feels vindicated because his child won't have to say it anymore.
Newscaster: You know people are going to be angry about this.
Guy w/lawsuit: if some religious stuff were brought in to school, you would complain. We have problems because religion is on the side of government...look at Pakistan.
Newsguy: You sound UnAmerican
Guy w/suit: He said do we have freedom of religion or not....even the Constitution says no one can hold office unless they agree to recite the words that they believe in god.
Now he is worried about his safety; he is getting death threats...then he said "praying".."hehe" "sorry"
The newscaster did not think he was funny.
Edited by - puffsrule on 26 June 2002 15:11:21
I have to add:
The FoxNews channel just gave the main judges name and phone number. They said "keep Fox news on and call and let the judge know what you think".
I disagree with this. I don't think people calling the judge names (the ones who want god in the pledge) is going to do anything but make him change his phone number. That was a waste of Fox's time and made them look petty.
The main core of the suit was that the guy who brought the suit (I'll call him Guy) is saying that simply having his child not say the pledge opens her up to ridicule and pain and suffering at the other childrens hands.
I almost fell out of my chair. I should have filed suit on the dubs, for not letting me recite it. I got lots of hair pulled and lots of snow balls in the face because of not reciting it.
Finding out that the suit revolves around her not saying it and the humiliation she would suffer is unreal.
Patio34,
Everyone have a right to say the Pledge of Allegiance. However, many don't what they are saying when they said the Allegiance.
Fred, go eat some nice wet cat food, climb into your litter box, curl up and go to sleep.
If you are not willing to stand up for where you live and defend the country, leave.
The US is better than anywhere in the middle east. Perhaps after the big A, you can go back and hang around the legs of Abraham, Issac and Jacob...just rub their legs.
I don't believe in god and I would recite it if I had the chance.
Puffs,
No doubt you are correct, this will likely go to the Supreme Court and it has about 99% probability of being reversed, particularly in light of the current makeup of the Court and it's demonstrated history of disagreeing with the 9th Circuit.
My mom used to go to my classes at the beginning of the school year to inform the teacher that I was not permitted to salute the flag. This lead to teasing by my classmates. I was called "communist" in the hick town I grew up in over that. It also lead to fistfights.
However, although this added to the misery of being a JW child, I actually respect the Witnesses for standing up for their right not to salute the flag. I could live with that, my main issues are with the encouragement / peer pressure put on parents to force their children to go from door to door, marketing the snake oil of the Watchtower cult, as well as the forced meeting attendance and all other miserable aspects of being a JW child, including without limitation the denial of holidays and birthdays, prohibition against involvement with school activities (sports, clubs, etc.), discouragement of education, attempts to override governmental authority mandating blood transfusions for children when needed to sustain life, and the shunning of "worldly" family members and those who have left the cult, etc.. This cult sucks the happiness out of childhood, and leaves most unprepared to fit in outside the cult.
So far the legal analysts on MSNBC and FoxNews are in agreement...it will go to the Supreme Court and it will be struck down.
By "It," do you mean that the California decision will be struck down, or that the Pledge will be struck down? Frankly, given the anti-Christian sentiment that exists in many quarters today, I could see it going either way.
Know what irks me about all this? It is that it appears to me that all of this effort to remove religion from every aspect of public life seems primarily aimed at removing one specific religion - Christianity. In many areas, courses in witchcraft are taught, courses is Islam and many other religious traditions. But I don't see anyone lining up to have these removed from the schools. Everybody gets their nose out of joint when a Christian group gets Harry Potter removed from a school library (not that I would advocate doing so), but try and get a copy of Left Behind into a public school library and see what happens. I even heard about one school district where (I believe it was) middle school students were required to take a course in Islam, including acting out Islamic practices and traditions, all this in the name of "diversity".
Maybe I'm just too sensitive, but it seems to me that if you're going to try to eliminate religion from public life, you ought to at least be consistent about it.
BTW,
I do salute the flag on every applicable occasion and I am totally patriotic. I do so by choice, and I reject any rules (past or present) that would require me to do so.
I also support the right of folks to burn the flag. As much as I dislike those who are doing it, freedom of expression is an important concept that is more valuable to me than my personal dislike for the idiots that burn the flag.
Thanks for the updates, Puffsrules. I concur it will probably be reversed in a higher court. It doesn't seem to me that the JWs would even get involved in it as it would bring a lot of heat on them for being unpatriotic. But they would like it a lot if it stood, I guess. Take some of the heat off the kids. Although I wonder if the WTS even cares about the heat on kids or their R&F.
Pat
