The Pledge

It would be easy to oversell the recent Supreme Court decision regarding the pledge of allegiance. The Washington Post does so on its homepage headline: "Court Keeps 'Under God,' Rejecting Atheist's Fight." Thus, the result of the decision—keeping "under God"—becomes news rather than the decision itself, which is basically a decion to not decide.

The Supreme Court at least temporarily preserved the phrase "one nation, under God," in the Pledge of Allegiance, ruling Monday that a California atheist could not challenge the patriotic oath while sidestepping the broader question of separation of church and state.

The decision leaves untouched the practice in which millions of schoolchildren around the country begin the day by reciting the pledge.

The court said the atheist could not sue to ban the pledge from his daughter's school and others because he did not have legal authority to speak for her.

I have not yet read all the reactions to the Court's non-decision, but I'm sure some on the far right will crow about it, though the Court merely ruled on the man's standing to bring a case on his daughter's behalf. The door remains open for a parent who does have standing to bring another case. I wonder what, as a parent, I would do in similar circumstances.

I don't recite the pledge. I stopped in high school, radicalized by coming out and by the Court's upholding Georgia's "sodomy" law. I still remember (with a chuckle) my teacher's horrified look when I failed to rise and recite with the rest of the class—not because I didn't believe in "God" (though I was already having doubts), but because I believed "liberty and justice for all" was a crock to which I would not pay lip service. She started in with "you can't say "God" doesn't exist," and stopped when I assured her I could but that "God" had little to do with it.

Today, I don't believe in a supreme being, and I suspect that notion of "liberty and justice for all" may be a crock or, at best, a promise unfulfilled. And I still don't recite the pledge. I suppose one day my son will notice this and ask me why. I'll tell him it's because this country has yet to live up to all it claims to be. I'll tell him there is much more to history than what he's probably taught in school, and I'll try to share with him what I know of it, and help him find it for himself. I'll tell him that I choose not to participate in reciting the pledge, because I would rather remember how far we have yet to go as a country, than become complacent with the status quo.

If there's a silver lining in the Court's decision, it's that it essentially turns the pledge of allegiance—an issue George H.W. Bush tried to run on during the '88 campaign—a non-issue this time around. It doesn't change anything, so it doesn't give Bush the younger anythign to run on, or Kerry anything to run from.

Comments

[Tim Who?]

The Supreme Court does what it does and they do it very well. The reason they don’t weigh in on Gay marriages and the reason they kicked this out on a technicality is the same. By doing this and by making Sodomy laws and Gay marriage laws wind their way through the court system they give the country time (years) to get used to the idea and to calm down about it. Cooler heads will prevail.

When Gay marriage goes through nation wide (and it will) the public will be so used to the idea it will be a non-issue. Yes the hard right will get up in arms but the other 85% of the population will tell them to STFU.

The current issue of “Under God” is just too hot for the judges to make a ruling on at this time. They saw a way to delay it till after Bush and the hot heads stop screaming and they chose that route. For the better I might add. This issue will come back around in another 6 or 7 years, we’ll have a new president and the mood of the country will have calmed down. The courts will throw out “under God” and that will be it. But they can’t do it right now. They can’t do it while Bush is in Office because it may ( WILL) cause this great country to become even angrier and even more divided than it already is. And they don’t want to do that.

Some times, they really do know what their doing!