Jan 15 2009
So Help Me God!
When president-elect Barack Obama takes his inaugural oath, he wants to include the words “so help me God”, however, Michael Newdow, a renowned atheist, is fighting to have the words removed from the oath. I know that this isn’t an environmental issue, persay, but it is an American issue and I’m going to touch on this, because…well, it makes the hair on my neck stand up!
Michael Newdow pushed to have the statement “one nation, under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegience from our public schools in 2004; he lost the case. I tend to agree with Newdow in this particular case, I believe that school is a place to teach our children how to read, write and add and subtract, not how to pray. If you wish for your child to learn their spirituality at school, send them to a religious based school, it’s that simple. Spirituality is for the parents to teach their children, if they choose. Not for the state based public schools, who already dictate and sensor what ‘truths’ they teach our children as it is…but that’s for another rant! 
The difference here is that Obama is not preaching his religious views on our society, he’s not asking us to pray to his God, he is swearing an oath to our country and sealing it with an empowerment between him and his God! So, what?!? What is it truly going to hurt?
I know that we, as a people, are not to mix church and state, but it’s done on a regular basis. I live in the bible belt of Florida and during the elections this year, 90% of the McCain/Palin signs that I saw on the side of the road were located in Church parking lots! We live in a very diverse society, full of many different cultures, beliefs and religions, all of which make our Country what it is. Spirituality is not a bad thing, intolerance is!
Ok..I’m stepping off my soapbox now…
~Wind
One might also note that “under God” wasn’t even in the Pledge until around the time of the Cold War, and we didn’t seem to be any less patriotic before then. Reason was something about “Those Godless Commies”, I think. “One nation, indivisible” may seem a lot less accurate in this day and age, but I don’t think the Pledge would really be damaged by returning to that phrasing.
I agree with the overall gist of this article. Institutionally requiring people to profess a religion in the course of something done at a secular institution–not so much. Incorporating a religious element into a personal oath, or swearing on something of personal religious significance? Nobody’s having to go against their beliefs, so do as you will.
So many people forget the difference between freedom of religion and freedom from religion….