[thechat] What?? WHAT?????

[Norman Bunn]

OK, time to go out on a limb, but do you really think separation of church
and state has to do with this?  I mean, come on!  Has anyone hear read the
First Amendment from the Bill of Rights?  Here it is:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to
petition the government for a redress of grievances."

This was specifically in response to the state-sponsored religions common
in Europe at the time (Church of England for example).  It was not designed
to remove God from the US, but to keep the US from setting up a state
church.  Consider the Declaration of Independence, which reads:

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to
assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to
which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect
to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes
which impel them to the separation."

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.:

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the
protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our
Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

To say that the forefathers of the US didn't believe that the nation was
"under God", is a joke!

Norman

At 03:10 PM 6/26/2002, you wrote:
>Plucked just now from a local tv news website:
>
>
>SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court in San Francisco has declared the
>Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional.
>
>The court finds that it's an endorsement of religion -- and cannot be
>recited in schools.
>
>The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a 1954 act of Congress
>that inserted the phrase "under God" after the words "one nation" in the
>pledge.
>
>The court says the phrase violates the separation of church and state.
>
>A judge wrote that a statement that we are one nation "under God" is no
>different than saying we are a nation "under Jesus" or "under Vishnu" --
>or a nation "under no God."
>
>He says none of these statements can be neutral with respect to religion.
>Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
>may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
>
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