pledge ruling
So I’m no usually that up on the news, but I heard this on the radio this morning.... CNN.com - Court rules Pledge of Allegiance 'unconstitutional' - June 26, 2002. This seems like a step towards bad things for our country - what’s next, take out of history books the reasons that the pilgrims came over to this country - it was because of RELIGION!! :sigh: I don’t know, it seems like people are just getting way too "politically correct" these days.
Comments
Actually, the "under God" part was added in 1954... fairly recently. And when it was added, Eisenhower meant God = "the Almighty" as he put it, or his single, Christian God. That’s not really what this country is supposed to be about. He’s not saying "under religion" in general.
Posted by: Dara | June 26, 2002 04:17 PM
Agreed, there’s a history behind "under God" in our pledge that most folks don’t know about. Francis Bellamy never put those two words into the original pledge despite his status as a Baptist Minister because that wasn’t what he wrote the pledge to be. The change was made some 62 years after the original version was released during McCarthyism. Just as "In God We Trust" is not the original National Motto, but rather E Pluribus Unum. That change happened in 1956 during the same time period.
You’re right that the original pilgrims come over here for religious purposes. More specifically, many of them came to escape the persecution of a State sponsored and endorsed religion that was different from their own. The very same sort of endorsement the Religious Right so desperately want to claim for their own today. The original pledge and the original motto were inclusive. By adding God with a capital G into the mix you end up endorsing Christianity in particular as they lay claim to God with the big G on the front and that ends up being divisive.
Posted by: Les | June 26, 2002 10:30 PM
I have a post on my blog about this as well. I agree, Kristine, too PC!
Posted by: Simply Sara | June 27, 2002 10:38 AM