The American Humanist Association (AHA) is starting a new project that I can get behind. Called ‘Don’t Say The Pledge’, the project highlights the original pre-1954 Pledge of Allegiance and argues for the removal of the words ‘Under God’. The AHA is asking people to not say the pledge until it is restored to the original version and I will not be saying the pledge.
On Wednesday, September 4th, oral arguments begin in the Massachusetts Supreme Court in the case of Doe v. Acton-Boxborough Regional School District. The case is being brought on behalf of three Massachusetts public school students and their parents by the American Humanist Association’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center. The plaintiffs are members of the AHA. The suit seeks to stop the use of the Pledge of Allegiance that uses the phrase “Under God”, added in 1954, using the equal protection clause of the Massachusetts constitution.
A Republican legislator, in Arizona, introduced a bill that would require high school students to take a loyalty oath before being allowed to graduate. The oath includes the usual invoking of God clap trap we see in the Pledge of Allegiance. The requirement is stupid, doesn’t help educate kids, and could be used to discriminate against people who either don’t believe in such oaths, like Jehovah Witnesses, or who don’t believe in the God part like Atheists.
Here is the text of the proposed high school graduation loyalty oath introduced by Rep. Bob Thorpe:
Joshua DuBois, Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, responded to two recent citizen petitions asking that ‘In God We Trust’ be removed from the currency and ‘Under God’ be removed from the Pledge of Allegiance. As I expected, DuBois makes a long reach to justify rejecting the petitions.
One recent method of citizen engagement that the Obama administration is trying is called “We the People” that harkens back to the Declaration of Independence and our current right to petition government for redress of grievances. The White House set up a website for people to create petitions on issues and the administration promised to respond if the petition got a certain number of “signatures”.
Being this is Flag Day, I wanted to, once again, point out that the words to the Pledge of Allegiance didn’t include God before 1954. One proof is this 1939 Porky Pig cartoon reciting the Pledge and God is no where to be found. The “Red Scare” of the 1950’s led to the addition of “Under God” to the pledge. Wish we go back to the original version as it is more inclusive.
Probably a waste of time but an article on the conservative website MichNews caught my eye this morning.
Wednesday night a talk show on the Fox network hosted by loud mouth Bill O’Reilly, called the “O’Reilly Factor”, had as a guest the first paid lobbyist for those of us who support a secular government. Lori Lipman Brown, who works for the Secular Coalition For America, and the issues discussed included the latest Pledge of Allegiance case now in Federal Court.
Writer Michael J. Gaynor was not happy with how the interview turned out. It seems that his buddy O’Reilly failed to get the history of the Pledge correct and “allowed” Brown to gain an upper hand in the “debate”.
