Posted on 06/26/2002 10:00:44 PM PDT by glorygirl
Something about the decision to declare the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional really got under my skin. But the media response to the majority opinion of a California appellate court bothered me even more.
And it wasn't the "liberal" media's handling of the issue. They took pains to outline the across-the-board response, from President Bush's "ridiculous" to Tom Daschle's "nuts" to the "consitutional scholars" who believe the Ninth Circuit Court has a point.
The conservative pundits are the ones who got to me.
Not once, tonight, did any of the "conservative" talking heads accuse the father of the second grader who took the case to court of using his daughter as a pawn to promote his own political agenda, or his pocketbook.
Not once did anyone dare to suggest that God really does look after us, and for that reason alone, should be recognized in the Pledge.
Not once did anyone dare to catalog what has happened to the nation's public schools since prayer was removed from the classroom, and suggest there might be a link.
Sure, there was plenty of talk about the "historical signifigance" of a deity, and the fact that the Senate begins each day with a prayer, and that "In God We Trust" is printed on our currency.
But NO ONE, not a single commentator, even on FOX, admitted that God really exists.
Bill O'Reilly and his ilk can talk all they want about "important" their religion is, but until I begin to see them have the courage to express their faith, I'll never believe God really matters to them.
There is a widespread misconception in this nation that if you express a belief in God, you are somehow deficient intellectually. And the higher up the societal ladder you progress, the stronger the criticism. This is what George W. Bush has experienced.
The Big Book of Alcholics Anonymous is non-denominational -- but it has one cardinal rule for everybody as far as their religious beliefs are concerned: "Never apologize for God."
Mr. Bush has learned that lesson well. And he demonstrated it in his heartening speech to Arizona fire victims on Tuesday. This is a man who REALLY believes God can help them more than he can.
I am waiting for the day when more people, especially more men, speak out freely and confidently about their belief in God, and began to tackle the liberal anti-God bias openly, by speaking of and calling for prayer, fasting, evangelism and community worship.
Those of us who believe in God need each other, just as we need God.
The reason we have abortion, guns in schools, split-up families, violence and crime next door, sexual depravity, fear and a lack of direction is because we have forsaken God.
And if we're not careful, we may soon lose an important two-word phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance, and, afterward, as a result, any official recognition that a Deity is responsible for our prosperity as a nation.
I once read a piece speculating about why the British Empire has lasted for a thousand years. It mentioned the fact that Britain is an island, but it gave more credence to the idea that, from the very first, the Brits have credited God for their existence, for their charter, and for the "divine right" of their monarachs.
Sounds cheesy, I know. But there's no apology here.
The article also mentioned that those societies which deny the existence of a deity, or worship more than one deity, are the ones that tend to die out, often in a bloody, violent way. Think Central America, where child sacrifice was a popular sport among the Indians there in the 1500s.
Don't be so sure the Supreme Court will overturn the pledge of allegiance decision, as all the pundits are predicting.
If it doesn't happen, there's no turning back. So take action,and get down on your knees.
Nothing here, move along....
There was, however, one commentator who did what the others did not: Alan Keyes. Call him what you want, but he has never been afraid to affirm his belief in God, or the Constitution. He cut throught the BS to assert that this decision is merely a continuum on the line of anti-religion judicial activism which has nothing to do with the intent of the First Amendment, which was enacted to prevent the Federal Government from making laws regarding ("respecting") religion -- and not, as it has been interpreted over the years by judicial activists, to prevent the "establishment" of religion. Yesterday's decision was, tragically, the inevitable result of years of judicial precedents that have eroded our constitutional freedoms, and taken from the states the rights left to them by the founding fathers.
It isn't simply the result of some senile crackpot judge's personal opinion, or some nutcase athiest activist, as some on Fox would have us believe.
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