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

Simon Dell simondl at epic.co.uk
Fri Jun 28 11:32:01 CDT 2002


At 14:30 26/06/02 -0500, you wrote:

>I hadn't realized before I read this that the phrase "under God" had only
>been inserted in 1954. Madhu, I see your point - it just astounds me that
>schoolkids have been reciting the pledge for all these years and suddenly
>it's an issue.  Of course, this will cost us a fortune when we go to
>remint all our official money, which clearly states, In God We Trust - and
>I'll now expect that we will soon be lobbying England to quit singing,
>"God Save the Queen." Ah well, I guess it's a sign of the nation trying to
>become more aware.

I think this is brilliant news. Over here in England I get a slightly
skewed vision of America. To me, it often seems that the US Government, the
State goerning bodies and these complex federal bodies have managed to make
a mess of what could have been a great Constitution. I know that most of
the Americans I have met and spent time with have been lovely, kind,
generous, interesting open-minded expressive people, but the stories I hear
on our news make me think that the country is run by a group who are quite
the opposite.

I wholeheartedly agree with whoever suggested removing that line from your
allegiance. You can't claim freedom's of speech and religion and all the
rest and then force people to swear by a figure they have no connection to.

In England, the Queen is the head of the Church of England, so "God Save
The Queen" will always be a part of the nation's cultur. At least 'til they
get rid of the church and the Queen. Those people who left England and
founded America did so mostly because there was no split between Church and
State (all thanks to King Henry 8th); their dissatisfaction with that
scenario, and I think, persecution because of it (they were mostly
Puritans, not CofE), drove them to find a new land. It's very clear that
insisting on Church/State separation would be very important to them when
founding their new land.

Simon





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