From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Thu Jun 27 2002 - 16:09:11 MDT
Lee Daniel Crocker wrote:
>
> > (Eliezer S. Yudkowsky <sentience@pobox.com>):
> > Ah, being forced to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance... I still
> > remember that. In the early days I was young enough to have no personal
> > objection to the "God" part as yet. Still, it was clear enough that the
> > Pledge contained a gaping logical flaw.
> >
> > "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. One
> > nation under God, indivisible, with freedom and justice for all EXCEPT THE
> > CHILDREN."
> > -- Eli, 1st grade
>
> Eli, some of us can actually remember standing in class for an
> explicit Christian prayer at the start of the day--in my case that
> was a Mississippi public elementary school in the 60s. We've made
> /some/ progress at least. Next on the chopping block is the whole
> idea of pledging one's allegiance to a damned piece of cloth in the
> first place.
The whole problem with the logic of this court decision is that they
claim that young children are unable to freely choose to not say the
pledge. So freakin what? Young children are not allowed to freely choose
whether or not to go to school at all, so how come this little 60 second
spec of one's school day has to be so sacrosanctly respecting of their
'freedom'?
The fellow who brought this suit is not just some "I'm an atheist and I
wanna protect my kid at school", he wants to pursue having the word
'God' removed from our money, and prayers and swearing on bibles removed
from the courts and legislatures. He believes in a rather skewed
revision of history that claims that Jefferson was forced at gunpoint to
include the word "Creator" in the Declaration of Independence.
This all being said, I actually prefer the decision, I just think the
rhetoric and propaganda being used to support it are loony, typical
Kalifornia bogosity. The term 'God' doesn't specify WHICH god, exactly,
or it's nature.
The fact is that the founding fathers were all believers in some sort of
deity they called "God". Washington dedicated the construction of the
Capital in DC in full masonic regalia and using the standard masonic
ceremony. Even the most liberal of the founders were believers. Franklin
was a Quaker, while Jefferson was a deist who attended Unitarian
services on occasion. Only one of the founding fathers wasn't a
christian, and he was jewish.
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