One step closer to the abolition of America
This is the MOST farked up, outrageous shi’ite. AT WHAT POINT WILL THIS STOP? When America is declared unconstitutional as well?
Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools was ruled unconstitutional Wednesday by a federal judge who granted legal standing to two families represented by an atheist who lost his previous battle before the U.S. Supreme Court.
U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled that the pledge’s reference to one nation “under God” violates school children’s right to be “free from a coercive requirement to affirm God.”
Karlton said he was bound by precedent of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which in 2002 ruled in favor of Sacramento atheist Michael Newdow that the pledge is unconstitutional when recited in public schools.
You know, these assholes like to say “American Taliban” about American Christians. Who’s the real “Taliban” here? These devout atheists and the ACLU, who never tire in their attempt to cleanse all aspects of America from any reference to God (the Judeo-Christian God, that is), and their tireless efforts to change the fabric of American society and law until it fits with THEIR religious views (make no mistake, it IS a religion to these people) are the REAL “Taliban,” if anyone American will be given that name. I’d call them Soviets, to be more precise.
There are plenty of moral, everyday atheists [update--and pagans] in this country who aren’t offended by the Pledge of Allegiance, but they’re not the devoutly “religious” atheists, either. I sure hope they’re watching, because it’s in their name that Nikita Khruschchev’s words will come true:
“We can’t expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism,
but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism,
until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism.”
The proletariat of today takes the side of socialism, which enlists science in the battle against the fog of religion, and frees the workers from their belief in life after death by welding them together to fight in the present for a better life on earth.
…
The revolutionary proletariat will succeed in making religion a really private affair, so far as the state is concerned. And in this political system, cleansed of medieval mildew, the proletariat will wage a broad and open struggle for the elimination of economic slavery, the true source of the religious humbugging of mankind.
Religious suffering is at one and the same time the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.
The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is therefore in embryo the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.
Josef Stalin would be pleased with the ruling:
Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.
As you might expect, Stop the ACLU has more, with lots of links to others discussing this latest outrage.
UPDATE: I’m a religious conservative, now! Show of hands here among my regular readers and those who aren’t who can actually READ: How many religious conservatives do YOU know like me?
(crickets)
Note to those outraged! at people like me actually, you know, having an opinion about the weak ruling:
Militant atheists are as devout as the Taliban, in their belief in NO deity. You wish to remove references to God, just as the Taliban removed references to other religions. There are PLENTY of atheists, pagans, Buddhists, etc. who are tolerant and secure enough in their beliefs that they’re not bothered by the reference to God, and who understand the SYMBOLISM in the statement–that our people have inherent rights, granted by God/YHWH/Allah/Gaia/polytheist gods/nobody/DNA/whatever, but not by government.
Besides, exactly what child was ever harmed by saying the Pledge as it is right now? Name one that wasn’t hurt by their parents dragging them through a public legal battle. What the hell is wrong with teaching children traditions that breed respect? Should we be teaching our children to scoff at mainstream culture? I suspect that’s one of the goals, to be honest with you. Damn bourgeoisie, eh?
I’m continually amazed at the intellectual dishonesty and immaturity of those who spend their adult years still rebelling against “the System.” For “nonsectarian civic Jesus H. Christ’s” sake, grow up.
And for the record, I’m very secure in my (quite PRIVATE and non-dogmatic) beliefs, but I’m not a “religious conservative,” so maybe you ought to read my other stuff before you make blind character judgements. Doubtless your regular readers won’t know the difference, but I can assure you, mine are cracking up at your assumptions. Thanks for the entertainment!
Jay says:
Lovely rant! My head about exploded when I heard the news. Thanks for the link. And athiesm was actually ruled to be a religion by the Courts just recently.
The Gray Tie says:
Same wave length as Beth, I know I’m gettin’ better now. :grin:
Have the same thing at my place. However, you always say it much more eloquently then I.
Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator says:
Federal judge declares Pledge of Allegiance in public schools unconstitutional
Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools was declared unconstitutional today by a federal
Seeing the Forest says:
Big Government vs Liberty
The headlines frame it in the Right’s preferred language: Judge: School Pledge Is Unconstitutional and Judge rules Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional and Federal judge declares Pledge unconstitutional and Judge: School Pledge Is Unconstitutional. T…
Sigmund, Carl and Alfred says:
Great post- and the quotes you drew really raed it well.
Sigmund, Carl and Alfred says:
Meant to read, ‘Framed it well.”
Point Five says:
Newdow Credits Random Chance For Verdict
Atheist Michael Newdow effusively thanked “a random series of undirected chance starting with the big bang and ending in this courtroom” for his victory. Judge Karlton ruled that the reference to God in the pledge was unconstitutional…
Vince Aut Morire says:
Chill The Fuck Out, Peeps
Raise your hands and back away from the keyboard. Slowly. Let’s remember a couple of things. First off, the 9th Circus already ruled in favor of Newdow once, why on Earth should we be surprised that they’d do it again?
gina says:
:twisted: well it will be hell on earth if they think I will stop saying the pledge with out God in it !!
Poca Dot says:
Fight the System: Take the Pledge
The Pledge of Allegiance goes underground. Woo hoo!
(/sarcasm)
Hardcore Conservative says:
It was the Ninth Circuit Court what do you expect
NIF says:
Homecoming
Today’s dose of NIF - News, Interesting & Funny … Homecoming Wednesday!
Woody says:
Total bullshi’ite. This guy needs to get a life.
I am an atheist and I’m well aware of my minority status and accept that the majority rules. I have no problem with Christianity or any philosiphy that encourages in good behavior and kindness towards your fellow man. I think the vast majority of atheists are like me and this guy makes us all look like nutbags.
Paul says:
Getting time for some civil disobedience.
Peakah's Provocations... says:
No God for Newdow
Michael Newdow is at it again with a zealous fervor to have anything referring to God removed from the public eye.
JasonColeman.com says:
Nuff Said. . .
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation under God, indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for all. And to think?.?.? I’m an atheist and I don’t…
Pandagon says:
Sometimes, A Pledge Is Just A Pledge
Jesus H. Christ, the pledge ruling. Excuse me. Nonsectarian civic Jesus H. Christ, the pledge ruling. A federal judge declared the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools unconstitutional Wednesday, a decision that could put the divisive…
maha says:
Gina–nobody is saying you can’t say the Pledge. The Pledge itself has not been ruled unconstitional. The ruling just says that public schools cannot require students to recite the Pledge in class, because the Government (in this case, the public school) is not supposed to be in the business of coercing people to express a religious belief (that there is a God, and the God is “over” the U.S., the latter point being theologically objectionable even to some religious people) that a person doesn’t agree with.
I suspect the ruling eventually will be overturned unless it is demonstrated the children were being penalized if they opted out.
JP says:
You should stick to either “Taliban” or “Soviets” as your derogatory term for the ACLU and the others you demonize, but don’t use both. To use the terms interchangably is ridiculous–the ideology that lead to the Taliban arose as a result of anti-Soviet efforts in Afghanistan.
Does this ruling really constitute a “Taliban?” Will this prevent people from attending church services of their choice? No. Will it prevent people from proseltyzing? No. Will it outlaw possession of religious books or shut down religious bookstores? No. Will it shut down religious broadcasting? No. I could go on like this for a while.
I would also remind people that the “under God” version of the pledge wasn’t used before 1953. (Even the phrase “of the United States of America” wasn’t added until around the 1910s or 1920s.)
Agnosticism/Atheism says:
Pledge of Allegiance Unconstitutional… Again
A federal judge in California has ruled that school children cannot be required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance because the inclusion of the words “under God” constitutes a coercive religious exercise. This should be unremarkable and uncontroversi…
Beth says:
JP…no shi’ite, dude. I know I’m just an ig’nant redneck, but believe it or not, I do know when the word was introduced into the Pledge.
Spare me your rhetorical gymnastics. Do you people ever have an actual point, or is wordsmithing your only way to rebut something (i.e. your silliness about Taliban vs. Soviets)? If you had READ the post (apparently you come from the same literacy school that Jesse Taylor did), you would have noted that my reference to the Taliban was there because we ig’nant rednecks are the “American Taliban” because we’re all shoving fundie Christianity down your throats. Meanwhile the militant, devout atheists are busily trying to shove atheism down everyone else’s throats. So if you want to play that Taliban vs. Soviet game, I’d say this would be a new breed with bad points from BOTH. Let’s just call it totalitarian atheism, shall we?
Go ahead and keep being intellectually dishonest, though. You know as well as I do that these lawsuits have NOTHING to do with what the students think; it’s all political bullshi’ite from professional militant atheists, and nothing less. And they’ll keep on, along with the ACLU, in dismantling every last vestige of American tradition and heritage until we’re all one big happy family in our big farkin’ commune, all peace & love & light (yeah, right). Because amerikkka = BAD! Evil! Kapitalism! Multinational corporations! Greed! Ignorant superstitions!
I’ll give you credit for one thing, though; at least you were one of the handful of ~18K Pandragon readers who actually had a shred of curiosity that allowed you to actually click the link. Apparently the others aren’t interested in finding out what was actually said and why.
BECAUSE OF THE HYPOCRISY!!! :mrgreen:
Crazy Politico says:
Great rant. Though I wonder if the guy who made the ruling realized that the 9th was overturned last year, therefore isn’t “case law”.
If he was looking for the case law that is still standing it would be in the 4th Circuit from this year.
(Great Blog!)
Crazy Politico
JP says:
I thought that the list of ways that this ruling would NOT affect religious expression would have been sufficient for people to realize that the comparison to the Taliban is absurd. Come on! We live in a country where a jackass like Pat Robertson not only has his own TV show but is covered by other media. The internet is full of articles that suggest that a hurricane was the result of a supernatural being who wanted to exact revenge on various demographic groups disliked by the religious right. If we were moving toward an atheistic society, this crap would be gone long ago. (But here’s to getting rid of it in the future!) Enough of the persecusion fantasies. (And that includes playing the “ig’nant redneck” card. Nothing I said implied that, and I’m not going to be manipulated into feeling guilty about it.)
The movement by the Knights of Columbus to insert the phrase “under god” in the first place was political bullshi’ite. (You could also argue that having students recite loyalty oaths of any sort is political bullshi’ite.) That’s why I included the reminder that “under god” is a recent development. It was not longstanding tradition. It was Cold War-era posturing. There are a variety of reasons that someone might object to such political bullshi’ite. Some do so for religious reasons (e.g., Jehovah’s Witnesses). Some do it for secular reasons. Schools are secular institutions that do not incorporate religious dogma as part of their day-to-day operations. Removing the “under god” pledge doesn’t affect the purpose of schools in the least. It does resolve the issue of unnecessarily imposing religion on others or producing conditions in which those who refuse to participate are stigmatized over a rote exercise.
Nice straw man argument about the big farkin’ commune, though. If you’d like, I can refer you to a few sources that would make it clear why capitalism and nationalism deserve some criticism.