One Nation, Under The Void
The Times published this excerpt from the interchange between my new favorite Supreme Court petitioner Mr. Godless and the Holy Defenders of the Sacred Truth. It reflects pretty (no-)Goddamn well on Joe Atheist and pretty badly on Justice Ruth “The Kid Doesn’t Have to Say it, And Plus She Ain’t Your Kid Anyway” Bader Ginsburg.
Highlights include:
JUSTICE O'CONNOR: Yeah, but I suppose reasonable people could look at the pledge as not constituting a prayer.…and:
MR. NEWDOW: Well, President Bush said it does constitute a prayer.
CHIEF JUSTICE WILLIAM H. REHNQUIST: Well, but he -- we certainly don't take him as the final authority on this.
JUSTICE BREYER: But what I'm thinking there is that perhaps when you get that broad in your idea of what is religious, so it can encompass a set of religious-type beliefs in the minds of people who are not traditionally religious, when you are that broad and in a civic context, it really doesn't violate the Establishment Clause because it's meant to include virtually everybody, and the few whom it doesn't include don't have to take the pledge.Also check out a nice op-ed on the subject from William “I Love Making Liberals Uncomfortable by Agreeing With Them” Safire.
MR. NEWDOW: I don't think that I can include "under God" to mean no God, which is exactly what I think.
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