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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodist News |
September 2002 |
Commentary:
Court misses mark with 'pledge' ruling
By Mike Macdonald
Religiously speaking, the recent ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that it violates the Constitution for school children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance is unimportant.
First, God is not impressed by mechanical lip service. In the book of Isaiah, he pronounces judgment against his people because they "draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are from me," and their religion is "a human commandment learned by rote." According to MSNBC, the Supreme Court has suggested in the past that the phrase "In God We Trust" on our currency is acceptable precisely because its "religious significance has been lost to rote repetition."
Second, religion does not need the imprimatur of the state. When church and state are commingled, religion becomes the handmaiden of politics. Within hours of the court's ruling, politicians were swarming to take political advantage of this ruling. Even in the unlikely event that the Supreme Court sustains the appeals court in its ruling, genuine faith and piety will not be harmed.
I support the separation of church and state. It protects the church from the corrupting influence of people whose real interest is in secular power, and it respects the right of individuals not to be forced to support religious claims that they do not accept. I do not think that a Hindu child should be forced to take part in a Christian prayer at school. It is good that schools are not allowed to begin each day with a prayer and Bible reading like I did in the first grade.
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Even if the Supreme Court sustains the ruling, genuine faith and piety will not be harmed. |
But there have always been people who have treated the Constitutional separation of church and state as if it required the United States to be an atheistic society. Some have tried to prevent children from reading Bibles at school on their own time or to ban religious clubs as an extracurricular activity. Some have wanted to prevent schools from even acknowledging the secular side of Christmas like Santa Claus and Rudolph. A lawsuit was filed to try to prevent astronauts from reading the Bible while broadcasting from outer space. The courts have consistently ruled that all of these activities are allowed.
The Constitution was meant to keep the government from establishing a state religion. It was never intended to ban all acknowledgment of the existence of religion from the public square.
In its ruling, the court said that the phrase "under God" is as unacceptable as saying one nation "under Jesus" or "under Vishnu" or "under Zeus" or "under no god" because none of these phrases is religiously neutral. I am reminded of Ralph Waldo Emerson's observation that, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." After this ruling we could add, "and little jurists."
To enforce this kind of logical consistency would lead to ridiculous attempts to control human behavior. For example, the president is a government official whose salary is paid by tax dollars. Are we going to arrest him the next time he closes a speech with a perfunctory "God bless America"?
"Under God" is so open-ended that it could be understood by the person saying the pledge as any concept of a "higher power." A person who objects to the phrase can simply become mute while these two words are said, or can refuse to say the pledge at all.
The Supreme Court long ago wisely ruled that no one could be compelled to say the pledge. By the logic of this ruling, it would be unconstitutional to read the Declaration of Independence aloud in school to celebrate the Fourth of July or to sing "America the Beautiful." As Ferdinand Fernandez, the dissenting judge in the ruling, said, "under God" does not establish a state religion "except in the fevered eye of persons who most fervently would like to drive all tincture of religion out of public life."
Last updated on 01/14/2004A United Methodist News Service Commentary. The Rev. Mike Macdonald is pastor of Broad Street UMC in Mooresville, N.C. UMNS commentaries do not necessarily reflect the views of the Church, the news service or this publication.