IT IS INCREDIBLE what claims are being made in the name of freedom as the memory of Sept. 11 fades into the recesses of our minds. It was big news last week when a California appellate circuit judge ruled that the words, "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance serve as an unconstitutional promotion of religion. After a public outcry for the pledge, the judge held his ruling for further review. The problem is that as the ruling stands, the judge is right.
Nearly a year after the attacks, the country is still bombarded with tributes, television commercials and mindless wallowing about how much things have changed. Everything in recent memory has been marked as the "first since" the terrible day. There was the first Super Bowl, the first Christmas, the first New Year's, the first Academy Awards, the first Independence Day ... blah, blah, blah. The attacks devastated countless families, businesses and the economy. The images of Sept. 11 continue to be thrown at the public and we cannot help but be patriotic and display flags and cheer our nation's team in the World Cup. And so, an attack on the sacrosanct Pledge of Allegiance takes on the importance of an attack upon the nation and its people.
The chanting of the Pledge of Allegiance can be performed with the omission of those two words, but many recent polls find the great majority favoring the uncensored version. A Newsweek poll found 87 percent in favor of the words, and 9 percent against (http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/06/29/poll.pledge/index.html). Newspapers, internet sites and television shows have been lambasting the decision, pointing to such numbers to show the disapproval of the American public. But frankly, those polls are worth as much as WorldCom stock because constitutional rights are not decided by pure majority rule.
Those 87 percent of respondents no doubt believe in God and love their country, but forget that respect for those who don't feel the same way is what makes them Americans. Among other reasons, Bill Maher gets fired from his aptly named show, "Politically Incorrect" because he criticized the military for firing long distance missiles and calling the terrorists cowards. There is some truth to his argument, but Maher's impropriety of appearing anything less than a flag-waving, Pledge-chanting, God- and country-loving American was too much for ABC and he was canned. Patriotism isn't about yelling, "Go America!" and beating up the guy who doesn't yell, but supporting one's country while remembering to continue accepting opposing views. The events of Sept. 11 served to wake Americans from their complacency, but as time has passed, nationalistic pride and defiance of terrorism has given way to blind patriotism - a dangerous development.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is being assailed for this and other notorious cases such as backing medicinal marijuana and criminals wishing to mail their sperm from prison, but the liberal bent of the San Francisco-based court cannot be used to dismiss a genuine rejection of spirituality in government. While most people in America believe in some form of a higher being, there are dedicated atheists who do not believe in God, groups who believe in multiple deities and others who may dislike the specific terming of the higher being as "God." The words may not serve as an insidious conspiracy to instill religious beliefs in all American children - they are fairly harmless. But they do add a supernatural facet to a chant about nationalism. The removal of the words does nothing to lessen the heartfelt pride for America, but does lessen the relationship between God and country.
This case may be a frivolous one and the promotion of religion not likely to cause any direct or indirect harm, but the words "under God" do not have a place in government. Perhaps the dollar bills, swearing in of judges and many other practices will be altered if this ruling stands. For whatever reason, there are people who do not feel comfortable with the use of such phrases on their currency, in their schools and in their government. Though the future looks bleak for this case and other such challenges, the minority cannot be cast aside so easily because their beliefs and values do not conform to the great majority.
Ask President Bush, the elector of the minority and the protector of the majority, and he will tell you that we need "common-sense judges" who "understand we derive our rights from God." Perhaps the doctor who performed Bush's recent colonoscopy should have diverted his efforts from searching for cancer toward looking for his brain instead. He is a religious person, but not every American is and the forced placement of any form of religious speech into a single American life is unconstitutional, untenable and un-American.
(Brad Cohen is a Cavalier Daily columnist. He can be reached at bcohen@cavalierdaily.com)
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