I hope the recent appeals court ruling banning the phrase “under god” from the Pledge of Allegiance stands. I can’t see any logic to it not standing. But what does it really matter? No one has to say the Pledge of Allegiance if they don’t want to.
As an atheist am I glad that someone with cojones has stepped up to the plate and said, “Y’know, there’s this thing we have called Church/State separation, and we don’t want to endorse any particular religious viewpoint, and while ‘god’ is a sort of generic deity word the vast majority of the American populace reads it in this particular fashion, and as a consequence the Pledge endorses a certain, particular view of the deity which excludes perhaps five out of a hundred Americans, and that’s not fair to them”? Absolutely.
I wish someone in authority would say that saying “God bless America” every time someone sneezes or breaks winds isn’t a good thing, either. Isn’t it wonderful? The past six months I’ve felt unwelcome in my own country because I happen not to believe in god. Having Bush II and his thugs equate atheism with barbarianism isn’t the best way to promote acceptance and understanding of the religiously-challenged like myself.