CNN.com - Lawmakers blast Pledge ruling - June 27, 2002: "SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- 'Political correctness run amok' is how one senator is describing a court's ruling that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional.
A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is an unconstitutional 'endorsement of religion' because of the addition of the phrase 'under God' in 1954 by Congress. "

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OK, how about if the nation which that flag symbolizes, declares an illegal, immoral war against innocent people who never laid a hand on an American?
What if that same "Nation Under God" had actually become a nation under satan? If that same war was for profit and strategic positioning in an oil rich continent.......Do we still owe allegiance "right or wrong" to that country? Or would that allegiance only be a contract valid for the duration of the pact with God? I would not like to support or pledge allegiance to a nation under an evil god that bombs hospitals and weddings and such. Nor would I like to pledge allegiance to a nation that committed the atrocities at Wounded Knee. (Did we ever apologize for disarming and then massacring those peaceful, trusting people?) Am I to blindly trust that this current administration is going to make only godly decisions? All they have shown me lately is corporate favoritism and killing and stealing. Is that what Jesus would do?

Another issue we must look at is the freedom of religion includes the option of freedom "FROM" religion, if I so choose it. Should I be judged harshly (or at all?) if I choose not to believe the same fables as you. No matter how sincerely you believe, it may all just be a manipulation of the mind. Everybody is not on the same spiritual level and many who you may think less of, may in fact be more spiritual than you. God reveals himself differently to everyone. Some tend to see nature itself, as god. God made us all to believe in our own way. God did not make us with a cookie cutter, to look and be exactly alike. Celebrate Diversity. Dont condemn those who think different from you, they may be right.

One Nation, Under God--Indicative of a Larger Problem: "'One of the amendments to the Constitution... expressly declares that 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press,' thereby guarding in the same sentence and under the same words, the freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press; insomuch that whatever violates either throws down the sanctuary which covers the others.'
--Thomas Jefferson: Draft Kentucky Resolutions, 1798. ME 17:382
The country for which he fought has carelessly let the fox--religion--unlawfully into government's henhouse, and thus every house, and every school, and every governmental institution:
'The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man.'
-- Thomas Jefferson to Jeremiah Moore, August 14, 1800--- Ford 7:454 - 55
Some people ask, 'Why bother with so much controversy over a few words?' Those words alone are merely the tip of the iceberg. The problem is when an entire section of our government stands up to protect one monotheistic sect and no others:
'I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.'
--Thomas Jefferson to Elbridge Gerry, 1799. ME 10:78"
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I am worried that if we do not keep church and state completely seperate, we will in a short time have an "Official Religion". Much like the religion that threw another Daniel into a lions den for not worshipping the "RIGHT" God. I am afraid of a fundamentalist religion being chosen for us (as opposed to "by us") which will exact punishments like public stonings and lynch mobs, like the old testament Jewish laws allowed. Stoning the evil people who work on Sarurday, and the women adulteress's (but not the men). You will not have any say about which God will be worshipped or what sect. What if the official religion were Catholicism? Are you willing to die for not bowing to their graven images? Just let government and religion unite. How long does it take for a fundamentalist religion/state like the Taliban to evolve to a state of power that it can patrol the streets with canes to whip offenders like women who do not hide their faces? Once the church and state merge you will not have a freedom of religion, nor the right to freedom "from" religion. That is not what the framers of our constitution had in mind for this great experiment. We already know from history, that this type of tyranny is the worst for it is tyranny not only against the body but also the soul. ~~ gr8fuldaniel

Where there is smoke there is fire department : Pentagon creating student database Any one feel a draft? There is a double whammy in this story, scroll all the way to the last line: >"The New York Times reported yesterday that the Social Security Administration had relaxed its privacy policies and provided data on citizens to the FBI in connection with terrorism investigations."
~~~~ Will the partisan FBI and CIA have influence over who gets SSI medical assistance and other services that "We the People" have paid for and are waiting to be declined for servives we were promised

Republicans slam Pelosi's comments as 'demoralizing': "They (the dems) also said the commission should look at conditions determining when a detainee should be released."
(pg. 2)"Many of the detainees have been in U.S. custody since October 2001. Why have they been in custody for nearly four years without being charged? Why has so little been done to resolve the status of the detainees?" Mrs. Pelosi said.
A spokeswoman for Mrs. Pelosi said the president himself has indicated that the war to remove Afghanistan's ruling Taliban regime was over.
"The war to remove the Taliban government from power was over in 2001 and the president has said the mission was a success," said Jennifer Crider, Mrs. Pelosi's press secretary.

~~~~~ So, whens a good time to tell the troops the truth?...gr8fuldaniel

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