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SA@TAC – Ron Paul’s Pledge to America

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Atheist Community Denounces Supreme Court Ruling Upholding Use of “Under God” in Pledge of Allegiance

(PRWEB) June 15, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Atheist Community Denounces Supreme Court Ruling Upholding Use of “Under God” in Pledge of Allegiance

San Diego, CA – June 14, 2004 – The online secular community Secularity.com has denounced today’s ruling by the Supreme Court that retains references to God in the Pledge of Allegiance. “Today’s 8-0 decision was moral cowardice.” said a spokesman for Secularity.com. “The Supreme Court made a political decision to avoid controversy, completely ignoring an unconstitutional favoring of religion.” Many legal experts have stated that, however controversial, “Under God” is a statement that God exists, and thus an endorsement of religion.

Secularity.com, an online community of atheists, agnostics, and humanists, holds the position that in a society based on freedom of religion, no religion should be favored or discriminated against, including the lack of religion – and that including “under God” in a daily oath recited and/or listened to by all schoolchildren is plainly in violation of freedom of religion. They argue that to favor the inclusion of “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance is to favor changing our form of government from a free Democracy to a Theocracy. One member of Secularity.com, who asked to remain anonymous due to religious discrimination, stated “To believe in a God is to believe in a false code of ethics. Faith in a false belief system is the primary cause of war, and the primary cause of our social problems. …forcing millions of schoolchildren to hear or recite “there is a God” every day is indoctrination.”

Secularity.com states that in America, freedom of religion does not apply to those who choose no religion, and the religious majority frequently imposes their beliefs on the secular minority. Secularity.com asserts that those with secular beliefs are more lawful, and have stronger moral base, than the religious. They point to studies showing that while 14% of Americans do not worship a deity, less than half of one percent of the prison population is Atheist. Adam Pedersen, president of Secularity.com, states, “The basis of true morality is secularity.”

Secularity favors the removal of all references to God from all public slogans & assets, include the Pledge of Allegiance, public buildings, and currency.

For additional information, visit Secularity.com: http://www.secularity.com

About Secularity.com

Secularity.com is an online community open to anyone with secular beliefs, including atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers, and objectivists. The only requirement for membership in Secularity is a lack of belief in god(s). Secularity.com offers secular event planning, free secular homepages, atheist dating services, discussion forums, newswires, and other resources to the secular community.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Adam Pedersen

Secularity.com

831-304-3184

http://www.secularity.com

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More Freedom Of Religion Press Releases

The Argument of not saying “Under God” in the Pledge of allegiance would be part of what right:?

A) Majority Rule vs. Individual Right

B) Liberty vs. Equality

C) State Authority vs. National Authority

D) Civil Disobedience vs. Rule of Law

E) Freedom of the Press vs. The Right to a fair trial

F) Religion vs. Governement

Should Religion Stay in the Pledge?

Can you still remember all of the words to the Pledge of Allegiance? Most of us recited the pledge every single school day from Kindergarten all the way through the sixth grade. Some junior high and high schools also required a daily flag salute and the recitation. This being the case, can you remember all of the words? Can you still rattle it off without thinking like most of us could do by the middle of our kindergarten year?

“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.” Hey! I can do it!

It’s funny how those two little worlds “under God” have caused such a ruckus. Many people insist that our country was founded on the idea of the freedom of religion. Others insist that forcing children to recite the words “under god” is forcing a single religion down school children’s throats—a religion that might not be taught or encouraged at home.

A few years ago a Congressperson caused quite a stir when he recited the entire pledge—without the words “under God.” Suddenly people were screaming that he wasn’t patriotic at all.

What do you think? Do you think that religion should play a part in our politics, or should the two be kept completely separate? Would it surprise you to learn that the original pledge did not contain religion at all? It was added in the 1950s as homage to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. The Washington Post’s website has published an article that claims it is time to take the phrase back out of the pledge.

When the phrase was added to the pledge, the primary religion in the United States was one of the Protestant Sects and only five percent of the population did not claim any single religion. Today the United States has a much larger variety of religions within its borders. Today, there are people who claim Buddhism, Hinduism, Atheism, Muslim and Wicca (among a few others) as well as those who claim traditional Christian and Jewish sects as their religions.

The Washington post agues that “under god” and religion be stricken from the pledge because the greatest threat to the United States is not those who are “godless” but those who are “fundamentalist” in their religion—willing to harm or kill anyone who does not subscribe to their exact belief system. The Post argues that our beliefs about religion are not what set us apart from other nations, but that our tolerance of each religion is what makes us unique.

What do you think about the topic? Do you think that the pledge should acknowledge religion and, if so, how should that acknowledgement of religion happen? Not everyone is of a monotheistic faith. How do you incorporate each religion without the pledge taking five or six hours to recite?

For more information on religion, visit http://www.religionmicroblog.com and http://www.jewishmicroblog.com.