Editorial
By Daily Bruin Staff
June 30, 2002 9:00 p.m.
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I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,
and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under Allah,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
An overwhelming majority of Americans would surely oppose public
schools asking children to recite this pledge. But since the
majority of the United States’ population is Christian,
Americans have no problem bargaining away people’s right to a
government with a separate church and state for their own benefit.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals finally ruled it
unconstitutional for teachers to lead the Pledge of Allegiance in
public schools last week because the phrase “under God”
violates the First Amendment.
Historically, the Bill of Rights has kept church and state
separate to avoid corruption and persecution that could ensue if
the religious leaders in our country also made the law. In this
case, the bulk of our government and the majority of the Supreme
Court think it’s fine for the United States to act illegally.
Evidence of this attitude comes not only from the backlash against
the pledge ruling ““ by President George W. Bush, Gov. Gray
Davis and 99 out of 100 senators ““ but also from the Supreme
Court’s declaration last week that school vouchers are
constitutional.
Many private schools, which the vouchers would support, have a
specific religious orientation, institute prayer in school, and
often refuse to teach certain science topics and other academic
subjects they deem inappropriate. Supporting vouchers links the
church and state together via taxpayer dollars, which takes public
money out of public services and gives it to religiously-oriented
institutions. In other words, it mixes religion and the state.
Other practices in the upper levels of our government violate
the First Amendment as well. Prayer is said before each
congressional convention, “God save the United States”
is stated before each Supreme Court hearing, and the government
prints “In God We Trust” on currency ““ a real
distinction between religion and government would mean going beyond
just removing “under God” from the Pledge of
Allegiance; it would mean eliminating all of these practices. Those
who argue that this course of action is petty are a sad testament
to the casual way in which some Americans regard their
Constitution.
Forcing religion on people is as bad as prohibiting it ““
separation of church and state goes both ways, allowing people to
practice the religion of their choice but protecting them from an
oppressive religious government.
Still, President Bush defends the “under God” phrase
claiming it refers to a “universal God” ““ he
forgets there are atheists, polytheists and Buddhists in America.
And he forgets Congress was referring specifically to the Christian
God when they added the two words in 1954 because they were afraid
of communists indoctrinating Americans ““ the irony speaks for
itself.
If the Supreme Court has any integrity, it will stop acting as a
puppet to partisan politicians and support something Americans
should value more than the phrase “under God” ““
the Constitution.
