Mulling over Daryl Stout to STEVE ASHER 16 Sep 2005

Hi Daryl,

 DS>   The story happened the other day here, but a California judge
 DS> ruled that saying the Pledge Of Allegiance in school is
 DS> "unconstitutional" because of the phrase "under
God". It was on the
 DS> CNN website the other day (www.cnn.com). The phrase wasn't even in
 DS> the original pledge...if I recall, it was added in 1954.

Yes, I saw it, but the constitutional arguments are a bit lost on me,
(not living there), but there are a number of issues to explore.

Apparently, the "under God" was inserted largely at the insistence
of the Knights of Columbus, which got my attention as it is linked
with the Knights of the Southern Cross & the International Alliance
of Catholic Knights. While most of the work the Knights do here is
benign (running retirement villages & nursing homes etc) I do wonder
which God they had in mind when inserting those words.

In 1999, the Australian Prime Minister sought to have a Preamble
inserted before the Australian Constitution which started: "With
hope in God, the Commonwealth of Australia is constituted by the
equal sovereignty of all its citizens. [...]" This went to a
Referendum, and was rejected. I'm not sure that referring to
a generic God serves much purpose, unless it is certain that
it is a reference to God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son.

I would be interested in knowing more about the motives of those
who had "under God" inserted, and in turn about the motives of
those who sought to have reciting the Pledge ruled unconstitutional.

The Knights of Columbus intend to appeal against the decision.

While I wouldn't denigrate the various Catholic "Knights" organisations
for their good works, I am wary of "the devotion of the Knights to Our
Lady" and the "deep loyalty that the Orders possess for the person and
office of the Holy Father and his lawful representatives" as found in
The Alliance Emblem on the International Alliance of Catholic Knights
web site ( http:/www.iack.org ). They see themselves as "Apostles of
the Third Millennium".

Cheers, Steve..

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