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Heresy of the Week: Atheist AnswerMan Talks About the Pledge

This week's heresy comes from Atheists of Silicon Valley's own AnswerMan. You can send him feedback at answerman@godlessgeeks.com

I hear atheists saying that "God" doesn't belong in ANYTHING tied to government, but I tended to abstain from that argument because there is at least some cultural utility to guide us through the vague superstitions sewn into public media. However, I have opposed "under God" since I was in kindergarten for very specific reasons:

  1. "Under God" doesn't belong in the Pledge (the author felt as well): it's bad form, inconsistent with the rest of the poem, and lyrically wrong.
  2. "Indivisible" becomes buried and diluted behind "under God", and it shifts the meaning of the poem, from the worthy goals of unity and liberty, to incomprehensible fairies and trolls.
  3. "Under God" won't ever become illegal to recite, it's just not an acceptable standard, and never was. This clerical faux-pas should have been taken care of a long time ago.
  4. Infusing monotheism into a national dogma requires and encourages the thought control of kids, confusing and misleading them into a horribly dubious future as a state-manufactured monotheist, when everybody knows the world is not so narrow.
  5. McCarthyism - a very sore point in our country's history. It revived witch hunts and did nothing positive for our country. Make no mistake, keeping "under God" means living with McCarthyism.

Let me know if I missed anything.

And there are no significant arguments being made for keeping "under God". "This is stupid," "we're going to kill it," "I'm gonna oust that judge!", "it's part of our history," "what are you going to push God out of next?" We're afraid of Arab nations being morally superior because we're losing faith in God? THESE ARE NOT CONSTITUTIONAL ARGUMENTS. They're going to have to come up with a lot more than that. I sure hope someone gets a copy of the Bill of Rights to Joe Lieberman's desk before he does any real damage...

"Congress shall make NO LAW respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech."

Surely he's read that line before. I wonder why he thinks it doesn't apply to him or the rest of Congress. Maybe he's trying to abolish the Judiciary branch. First he tries to become vice-president, now this. Incredibly ambitious.

Send feedback to Mark.


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