Slashdot Mirror
Supreme Court Will Hear Pledge of Allegiance Case
Decaffeinated Jedi writes "As reported in this CNN.com article, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case next year (most likely in June) involving whether public schools can lead students in a 'voluntary' recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. At issue in this case is whether the inclusion of the phrase 'under God' in the pledge constitutes an establishment of religion on the part of the state and an infringement on students' religious liberty when it is recited in the public school setting. This case comes to the Supreme Court as an appeal of the June 2002 ruling made by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals--a decision that led to one of the most active stories in Slashdot history." The CNN article's emphasis on voluntariness -- "whether schoolchildren can be allowed to recite the Pledge voluntarily" -- is grossly misleading, almost propagandistic. Most states have laws requiring the pledge to be recited every day as a class activity, and these are the laws in question. In theory students shouldn't be punished for failing to recite along with the rest of the class (due to a previous Supreme Court decision). No state has a law prohibiting anyone from reciting the pledge voluntarily, whenever they want to.
These days I'd more concerned about the whole "and liberty and justice for all" bit. How about some truth in advertising here?
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
thank you for saying what I was going to say, I think it's funny how we have to be tolerant of other religions, but people dont have to be tolerant back, I'm tolerant, in fact I dont give a flying fuck who you worship, you can worship the goatse man for all I care, just as long as you dont force your beliefs upon me, I dont care, I'm a christian, and I see all this stuff to rid of the term "god" and change it around to be politically correct, I didnt see anything that said "you cannot display the 10 commandments in front of a building or in public, or practice any christian beliefs in public"
What's funny is that people of other religions attack the christians here so much, yet, if their religion was attacked or told to not be practiced in public, we'd have a lot more terrorism and people screaming "unfair"
It's like going to the middle east and going "well, guess what fuckers?! you cant practice islam in public anymore, stop doing it, it bothers us, thank you." It's basically what we'r being told, we're a dominantly christian nation. so you know what, if you dont believe in god, why are you so offended when you hear his name? you shouldnt care at all.
You know what the real reason for this is? Anally retentive pricks who have to have the world shaped their way. That's the only reason this has become a problem as of late. I think the pledge should be voluntary though, if you proudly believe in the country and the flag, go on ahead and do it, if you dont, whatever.
I wouldnt be surprised if some gay pride group came up and tried putting a ban on heterosexual relationships, or the KKK finally getting their way on things, or some group limiting child birth or whatever...
Just deal with it people, just learn to TOLERATE and ignore things you dont like, instead of pissing people off, making people associated/generalized with you look bad. JUst shrug all the small details of life off and go on with your lives.
The phrase separation of church and state does not appear in the U.S. Constitution or any of America's official documents. It does, however, appear in another prominent document, the Constitution of the former Soviet Union: "The church in the USSR is separated from the state from the church." (Article 52).
Looks like you atheists in the U.S. have your constitutions mixed up. This is NOT Soviet Russia.