The Daily Caller – by Casey Harper
A New Jersey high school girl has finally won a hard fought battle to protect her right to say “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.
A judge Friday dismissed a liberal, atheist group’s attempt to strip “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance after a family objected to their daughter’s school endorsing the practice.
“I’m so grateful the court decided that kids like me shouldn’t be silenced just because some people object to timeless American values,” Samantha Jones, a senior at Highland Regional High School, said in a statement.
The American Humanist Association argued that “under God” is a theologically charged statement unfit for school because it discriminates against atheist students.
“Public schools should not engage in an exercise that tells students that patriotism is tied to a belief in God,” David Niose, attorney for the AHA’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center, said in a statement in April. “Such a daily exercise portrays atheist and humanist children as second-class citizens, and certainly contributes to anti-atheist prejudices.”
This is the second time the government has denied AHA’s attack on the phrase, the first in Massachusetts, according to the Becket Fund, which is representing Jones.
“Today the Pledge continued its long winning streak in court, and the atheist activists continued their losing streak,” Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel for the Becket Fund, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “But do we have to keep playing this game? It would be much less divisive for our society if those opposed to the Pledge would stop trying to silence those who disagree with them.”
The original version of the pledge did not include the phrase “under God,” which was added in 1954 by Congress. When AHA and the family filed suit to get God out of the pledge, Jones stood up in defense and became the face of the resistance.
“Ever since I was little, I’ve recited the Pledge of Allegiance because it sums up the values that make our country great,” Jones said in a statement. “The phrase ‘under God’ protects all Americans—including atheists—because it reminds the government that it can’t take away basic human rights because it didn’t create them.”
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Atheists always baffle me. They claim to adhere to nor believe in any religion yet they have formed their own religion by dictating that all religions are beholden to their views and convictions that all religions are wrong. I am agnostic. I have no idea what is outside of this life and I won’t demand that anyone see this existence my way. None of us can be 100% certain what lies beyond or even what is real, right here in front of us. I am only sure of one thing, this life is personal to each and every one of us. And if there is some higher power, it is every man (woman, child, etc) RIGHT to personally seek out that higher power or knowledge. None of us have a right to impede upon another man’s journey. If the athiests don’t like what someone has to say, don’t listen. If they don’t like that someone if making them participate, exercise your right to refuse. But do not deny others their right to live as they see fit. I’m not a Christian but I was raised in church. Jesus (real or not) had one rule, only one that was the source of all others; So simple, so easy to follow that if we cast out all other laws and obeyed only one there would be no more war, hate, pain or suffering perpetrated by other men. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The Atheists, many Christians as well as all other religious people would do well to follow this one law. Substitute “Do” for the word “Judge”, or any other word before committing to action and you will always walk a moral path.
Atheists baffle the hell out of me. They look out into the night sky, see the stars and planets, and think they just appeared one day with no divine intervention whatsoever. Mind boggling….. Yeah, I know the argument that space was there before God. Not buying it. (maybe it was already there, but he organized the chaos)
I wonder who bank rolled the bitch. If you want to say something then say it and shut up. If you do not want to say something do not say it and shut up. When I was in school I refused to say the pledge and the prayer in school. The teacher told me to say it and I refused and the class stood up in the class room for 15 minutes, she finally gave in. That was in the 50’s
Solution: get rid of the pledge of allegiance. It’s part of the indoctrination brainwashing of the “state” anyway.