I was listening to an editorial on the radio yesterday concerning the appointment of a new Chief Justice to the Supreme Court. The discussion centered around the controvery over whether the Pledge of Allegiance should be deemed unconstitutional. You know, the Pledge of Allegiance, that cornerstone of national loyalty we all, at one time or another, have stood up, hand over heart and recited with pride and conviction in the school auditorium or at some other public gathering. Because the Pledge of Allegiance contains the words "one nation under God" some people in this country are trying to have the whole thing thrown out claiming that the wording brings the debate over God and religion into the mix. These same people would have us believe that since the word God is used in the Pledge of Allegiance then somebody's rights must surely be being stepped on.
Well may I remind these people that this nation is a country founded by religious refugees and to take away the Pledge of Allegiance simply because it contained the word God would be to say that everything those early settlers came to America for -- the freedom of religion and the freedom of speech -- was a farce and a lie and all their sacrificing was for nothing this four hundred or more years later.
If we are going to allow these people to scutinize every document that has the word God in it and claim it unconstitutional, then I suppose the next thing to come before the Supreme Court in question of being unconstitutional will be the Constitution of the United States of America itself. How could The Constitution be unconstitutional??
Maybe we should be looking around for all those who are proud of America and encouraging them to say the Pledge of Allegiance with heartfelt conviction, instead of looking for ways to tear at the fiber of this great country -- a country that was founded on the basic principle of "one nation under God."
S Hamilton