Being this is Flag Day, I wanted to, once again, point out that the words to the Pledge of Allegiance didn’t include God before 1954. One proof is this 1939 Porky Pig cartoon reciting the Pledge and God is no where to be found. The “Red Scare” of the 1950’s led to the addition of “Under God” to the pledge. Wish we go back to the original version as it is more inclusive.
Category: Politics
Ralph Reed former head of the right wing Christian Coalition, which continually violated federal election and tax laws during his leadership, is back with a new organization trying to link the religious right and the Republican party. The group called “Faith and Freedom Coalition” is holding a conference this weekend in Washington DC. This shows once again that religious right criminals never have to pay for their crimes.
It’s really hard for some religious believers to understand why the separation of church and state is really important. In an effort to advance the cause in support of strong separation I have come up with a good analogy to explain it. I call it “The Sports Analogy”.
Recent court decisions involving church and state have not been ruled in the non-believer’s favor. The reasoning used by the judges follow the thinking shown in the recent decision concerning the National Day of Prayer law:
The Supreme Court ruled Monday in the case of Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn Et al. that tax payers couldn’t sue Arizona for allowing a tax credit used to fund private sectarian schools in the state. While I disagree with the ruling since tax payers should have standing to sue – it is their money – I don’t think supporters of separation of church and state would win the case anyway.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation wrote: