June 27, 2002

"I Pledge Allegiance to God..."
   by mike <mike@pfft.net>

I'm incensed. (When am I not?) Although recently I bought an Xbox (to compliment my PS2), I'm still angry at the country - or more, the religous part of it. I'm speaking of the decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that recently decided that the phrase "one Nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance amounted to an endorsement of religion, which Congress is prohibited from doing.

Now people are up in arms in defense of the existing PoA, claiming it's necessary, especially in this time to have a national credo. Well, I agree, but why must it say "God?" Trent Lott, Dick Armey and other losers in Congress insist that the phrase must be there because it's true - we are one nation under God. Well, that just goes to show how closed-minded these assholes are. There is a healthy population of atheists in the United States, and who is the government to force me to say anything about God in any kind of pledge? Screw you guys, I'm going home.

It's not as if this has ALWAYS been the PoA, and it's suddenly become an issue. The phrase "under God" was not added to the pledge until 1954, when we were in the midst of our paranoid anti-Communist campaign. Those were not our best days, either. Why can't we rescind that part of the pledge? I know I'd say louder and prouder if I didn't have reservations about the religious part.

Don't tell me it's "ceremonial" or that it "does not specify which KIND of God." That it specifys a god at all is too much for us atheists who choose to believe that we're all created and ruled by some invisible, omnipotent being. Having to say "under God" forces us to acknowledge a religious tenet in which we do not believe. Have some respect, you militant Congressional assholes and you Bible Belt Jesus freaks, or we'll make you put the story of Evolution in the next edition of the Bible. PFFT.

Published: June 28, 2002
Editor: stacy