In other related news, ketchup is considered a vegetable, poor people are lazy etc. etc.
Really, this should come as no surprise at all, but it’s almost perversely refreshing to see a US Circuit Court display enough hubris and disdain for the Constitution (word & spirit) to actually put it in writing. Specifically:
The San Francisco Appeals court has ruled that “Under God” is not a prayer when used in the Pledge of Allegiance. In 2002, the court declared that the phrase was unconstitutional. The new 2-1 ruling from the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals states it is a “recognition of our founders’ political philosophy that a power greater than the government gives the people their inalienable rights […] Thus, the pledge is an endorsement of our form of government, not of religion or any particular sect.”
Because what it really tells us is that the whole separation of state & church schpiel is an illusion. God is politics, our politics are divine. If “One Nation, Under God” is “merely” an endorsement of our form of government, then doesn’t that make us a de facto theocracy? And doesn’t that then put us on the same page as the insane Wahabbi’s in Saudi Arabia or the Taliban in Afghanistan, where absolute devotion to your cult & your fantasy deity trumps any responsibility to your nation and your people?
Basically, those who refute the existence of a Supreme Being and refuse to let their kids pledge allegiance to the Great Sky Being are un-patriotic. Somehow, refusal to buy into — and pledge allegiance to — the fairy tale of God as puppetmaster of us all renders you less desirable as a citizen. Once the refreshing taste of the novelty of having this in writing is gone, you’re back to realizing how painfully grotesque it is to think that in the 21st century, religious belief is still a lithmus test for, well, anything.
I’m sorry, Judge Bea, the “power greater than government” is not automatically your glorified tooth fairy/poltergeist just because you say so.
(Photo of real little patriots in their patriot-ware from lies.com)
