Pledge of Allegiance

Well, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is going to fight the ruling that recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional because it contains the phrase, "under God", thereby violating the separation of church and state embedded in the Constitution.

There are lots of arguments for why this is not unconstitutional.  There are lots of arguments for why it is.  Some of the notable points:

1.  That the framers wanted to ensure that no particular church was established as a state church like some European countries had at the time (and still do).  Thus, simple statements of belief or artistic representations of the Ten Commandments as part of the legal inheritance we all share in this country cannot be construed to be propaganda for state-sponsored religion.

2.  That the framers were indeed Christians, by and large, and did intend ours to be a Christian nation of no particular denominational bent.

3.  That children, not yet fully aware of the ramifications of such, should not be compelled to stand up in front of anyone and recite an oath of allegiance to any government, Christian or otherwise.

4.  That pledging allegiance to a flag is a form of idolatry, which is anathema to Christianity anyway.

But I don’t care about any of that.  I care about the money spent on this issue.  Money that could be spent on disease research, improvements for public education, aid to the poor, prescription drug cost relief for seniors, housing for homeless Americans, and any number of critical services our most vulnerable citizens need so much more than an ideological batlle between blue staters and red staters.

Did we learn nothing from Hurricane Katrina?