American Supreme Court to rule on "Pledge of Allegiance"

by Gopher 11 Replies latest social current

  • Gopher
    Gopher

    http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=2&u=/ap/20031014/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_pledge_of_allegiance

    WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will decide whether the Pledge of Allegiance recited by generations of American schoolchildren is an unconstitutional blending of church and state.

    The case sets up an emotional showdown over God in the public schools and in public life. It will settle whether the phrase "one nation under God" will remain a part of the patriotic oath as it is recited in most classrooms.

    The court will hear the case sometime next year.

    The justices agreed to hear an appeal involving a California atheist whose 9-year-old daughter, like most elementary school children, hears the Pledge of Allegiance recited daily.

    A national uproar followed a federal appeals court ruling last year that the reference to God made the pledge unconstitutional in public schools. That ruling, if allowed to stand, would strip the reference from the version of the pledge recited by about 9.6 million schoolchildren in California and other western states.

  • Gopher
    Gopher

    I guess this won't affect JW's much. It's only a technicality in "how" the pledge of allegiance is recited, and will not rule on "whether" the pledge should be recited.

  • Mr. Kim
    Mr. Kim

    More people going to TRY and tell us what to do. Of course, for our own good!--?

  • DevonMcBride
    DevonMcBride

    If we have freedom of speech and are able to say what we want, then we should also have the freedom NOT to say the Pledge of Allegiance.

  • freedom96
    freedom96

    We have bigger issues in this country other than worrying about how the Pledge ought to be said.

  • crownboy
    crownboy
    We have bigger issues in this country other than worrying about how the Pledge ought to be said.

    Agreed. While I thought the 9th Circuit's decision was quite correct, I thought it would have been best if they had just left the pledge alone. The "under god" part just isn't that big a deal, IMO, and it seems like more people care that it's in there than people caring that it's not. The Supreme Court will most likely reverse the decision. People are too attached to their personal religious beliefs to see such an issue clearly.

  • berylblue
    berylblue

    You know, when I was 13 (not a Witness), I decided that I could not, in good conscience, say the "pledge". I didn't know why I had the right to decline, but I knew that there was some group who had brought this issue to the Supreme Court and won....

    See all the things the WTS has done to strengthen the US Constitution????

  • marriedtodamob
    marriedtodamob

    I can't help but wonder if the phrase "One nation under God" were to be changed to "One nation under a God if we so choose" how that might affect this issue. Just throwing nuts in with the bolts...What does everyone think?

    Mobbie

  • SanFranciscoJim
    SanFranciscoJim

    Many people are not aware that the original pledge of allegiance did not contain the phrase "under God". Here is an interesting history of the pledge:

    How the words "UNDER GOD"came to be added to the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

    T he Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States originated on Columbus Day, 1893. It contained no reference to Almighty God, until in New York City on April 22, 1951, the Board of Directors of the Knights of Columbus adopted a resolution to amend the Pledge of Allegiance as recited at the opening of each of the meetings of the 800 Fourth Degree Assemblies of the Knights of Columbus by addition of the words "under God" after the words "one nation." The adoption of this resolve by the Supreme Board of Directors had the effect of immediate initiation of this practice throughout the aforesaid Fourth Degree Assembly meetings.

    A t their annual State meetings, held in April and May of 1952, the State Councils of Florida, South Dakota, New York and Michigan adopted resolutions recommending that the Pledge of Allegiance be so amended and that Congress be petitioned to have such an amendment made effective.

    O n August 21, 1952, the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus at its annual meeting adopted a resolution urging that the change be made general and copies of this resolution were sent to the President, the Vice President (as Presiding Officer of the Senate) and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The National Fraternal Congress meeting in Boston on September 24, 1952, adopted a similar resolution upon the recommendation of its President, Supreme Knight Luke E. Hart. Several State Fraternal Congresses acted likewise almost immediately thereafter.

    A t its annual meeting the following year, on August 20, 1953, the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus repeated its resolution to make the amendment to the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag general and to send copies of this resolve to the President, Vice President, Speaker of the House, and to each member of both Houses of Congress. From this latter action, many favorable replies were received, and a total of seventeen resolutions were introduced into the House of Representatives to so amend the Pledge of Allegiance as set forth in Public Law relating to the Flag. The resolution introduced by Congressman Louis C. Rabaut of Michigan was adopted by both Houses of Congress, and it was signed by President Eisenhower on Flag Day, June 14, 1954, thereby making the official amendment conceived, sponsored and put into practice by the Knights of Columbus more than three years before.

    I n a message to Supreme Knight Luke E. Hart at the meeting of the Supreme Council in Louisville, August 17, 1954, President Eisenhower, in recognition of the initiative of the Knights of Columbus in originating and sponsoring the amendment to the Pledge of Allegiance, said:

    We are particularly thankful to you for your part in the movement to have the words 'under God' added to our Pledge of Allegiance. These words will remind Americans that despite our great physical strength we must remain humble. They will help us to keep constantly in our minds and hearts the spiritual and moral principles which alone give dignity to man, and upon which our way of life is founded. For the contribution which your organization has made to this cause, we must be genuinely grateful."

    I n August 1954, the Illinois American Legion Convention adopted a resolution whereby recognition was given to the Knights of Columbus as having initiated, sponsored and brought about the amendment to the Pledge of Allegiance; and on October 6, 1954, the National Executive Committee of the American Legion gave its approval to that resolution.

    Source: http://home.earthlink.net/~cpoiani/knights/pledge.htm

  • Guest 77
    Guest 77

    Thanks for that info. SFJ. Well, we've been on the road to communism many decades now and it doesn't surprise me one bit in what I read and see. If anything, I'm expecting more.

    Guest 77

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