September 08, 2006
Pledge of Allegiance "Under God" Lawsuit
| Host: | Vic Eliason |
| Guest: | Anthony Picarello |
| Listen: | RealAudio | Windows Media | MP3 | Order Tape or CD |
Anthony Picarello is an attorney with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit, public interest law firm that protects free expression for all religions.
The phrase, "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance assumes a higher source for law. If we remove this phrase, government would then become viewed as the ulitmate source for law. That would merely create an atmosphere ripe for governmental abuse of power. This is precisely why this phrase was added in 1954, to distinguish America from the godless Soviet Union during the height of the cold war.
The Becket Fund became involved in the case against atheist Michael Newdow and his fight to remove the phrase "under God" in the pledge. The case went to the Supreme Court in 2004 but instead of bringing closure, the court dumped it back to the 9th circuit.
Atheists and Christians alike share their views on this key, two word phrase of our Pledge of Allegiance on this edition of Crosstalk.
More Information
The Becket Fund website:
http://www.becketfund.org
