vision2020
Re: Fed. Judge Declares "Pledge of Allegiance" Unconstitutional
Linda,
I grew up with the original and was out of high school and daily allegiance
recitals before Ike made the change with his executive order. I have never
been comfortable with the additional words--simply because they weren't
there all those years when I was reciting the pledge every morning. And it
was a very effective statement of one's patriotism even then.
>From a purely practical stance, I think the issue should have been raised
years ago--maybe even when we were so worried about the "godless
commies"--the reason for the change in the first place. Coming at this
time, the discussions should be interesting and heated.
Sue
----- Original Message -----
From: "Linda Pall" <lpall@moscow.com>
To: "John Harrell" <johnbharrell@yahoo.com>; "vision2020"
<vision2020@moscow.com>
Sent: Friday, June 28, 2002 8:22 AM
Subject: Re: Fed. Judge Declares "Pledge of Allegiance" Unconstitutional
> Dear John and Visionaries,
>
> Thank you, John, for putting the link in your posting so that we could
read
> the opinion right away.
>
> Initial press reports suggested that the entire pledge of allegiance was
> unconstitutional (NOT!). It was the addition of "under God" by Congress in
> 1954. This reminds me why we should go to the source and review and decide
> for ourselves.
>
> It's interesting that this is actually a rather narrow opinion, using
> established Supreme Court jurisprudence on church/state separation. The
> Establishment Clause of the First Amendment is always a contentious area
> where good people can have a rousingly good argument about where that line
> should be drawn. (currency, okay? Schools, no? Prayer in the Senate and
the
> House [they need it]? whose prayer? Vouchers okay (yes, says a 5-4
majority
> on the Supreme Court)? etc., etc.)
>
> I would suggest that the core of the opinion appears on pages 9122-1927 of
> the opinion (18-23 on my PDF version). I was interested to see that the
real
> issue was the 1954 amendment that added "under God" and the rationale
given
> at the time by President Eisenhower and members of Congress for the
> addition.
>
> Being a little tyke who had just learned the other version, the new words
> were a real speed bump. I still have to think deliberately about the
pledge
> when I say it or lead it because those little tyke memories got hard
wired.
> I suppose that's actually a really good thing because when I say
> "indivisible, with liberty and justice for all" you can bet the family
> fortune that I REALLY mean it... justice for ALL!
>
> Take a look and see where you come out.
>
> All the best,
> Linda
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Harrell" <johnbharrell@yahoo.com>
> To: "vision2020" <vision2020@moscow.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2002 4:22 PM
> Subject: Fed. Judge Declares "Pledge of Allegiance" Unconstitutional
>
>
> > A federal appeals court, The 9th U.S. Circuit Court, ruled today that
> > the Pledge of Allegiance is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion
> > and cannot be recited in schools.
> >
> > In case someone hasn't heard about this yet, I thought I would share
this
> > with everyone here at Vision2020.
> >
> > Filed June 26, 2002
> >
> > The actual opinion is here, and is in .pdf format:
> >
>
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/FE05EEE79C2A97B688256BE3007F
> EE32/$file/0016423.pdf?openelement
> >
> > Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Newdow argues that the
> > addition of these words by a 1954 federal statute to the previ-ous
> > version of the Pledge of Allegiance (which made no reference
> > to God) and the daily recitation in the classroom of the
> > Pledge of Allegiance, with the added words included, by his
> > daughter's public school teacher are violations of the Establishment
> > Clause of the First Amendment to the United States
> > Constitution.
> >
> > Newdow is an atheist whose daughter attends public elementary
> > school in the Elk Grove Unified School District
> > ("EGUSD") in California. In accordance with state law and a
> > school district rule, EGUSD teachers begin each school day
> > by leading their students in a recitation of the Pledge of
> > Allegiance ("the Pledge").
> >
> >
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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> >
>
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