Michael Newdow, the atheist's best friend,
argued his Pledge of Allegience case before the Supremes today.
Opposition to Newdow's position is heavy, and is populated by the outraged Christian right, the purists clinging to tradition, and the unwashed masses who don't see the big deal about keeping it in; in the aggregate they constitute 9 of 10 Americans who want it to remain.
I'm one of the nine, though it is an interesting academic exercise. The "under God" reference is a Cold War relic, inserted by Congress in 1954, and even though I'm a little nostalgic because
I always recited it this way while growing up*, the "It's A Sacred Tradition!" argument still annoys me a bit, for the same reasons it annoys me that we no longer get to sing "Take Me Out To the Ballgame" during the 7th-inning stretch.
OTOH, there's still something to be said for tokens of general public reverence, which I think this is. This, to me, is no more offensive than similar references on the dollar bill and elsewhere.
Finally, as it happens I've met Newdow, and as a result find it hard to take his cause, or him, that seriously. Back in the day, we hosted a party that (for some) extended into the next morning. I'm not sure whether it was Newdow's arriving with pot**, or finding him asleep at 5am in our conversation pit, but in any event it's hard for me to keep steady an image of him as a sincere advocate in this case.
Gattigap
* Bilmore, what was it like to recite ithe Pledge without "under God" when you were in school?
** That he shared -- as all kind invitees do -- earns him kudos, of course.
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