Taking His name in vain
In a recent blog entry, Jeff writes about how Michael Newdow is continuing his crusade to remove the name of God from public view. This time, he's apparently going after the phrase "In God We Trust" on our currency. (All others must pay cash.) I started writing a response to this in Jeff's comments section, then decided to turn it into a full-on blog post. Why not?
For a while now, Newdow's been after the idea of invoking God's name, first in the Pledge of Allegiance, now in currency. Originally, I was all in favor of either removing "under God" from the Pledge or removing the Pledge from public schools, not just for its violation of the establishment clause, but also because of the initial intentions behind its inclusion. I wrote one of my few Orbis articles about it. (I hadn't read it in a while. Interesting how I predicted the currency thing. I rule!)
Ahem, anyway, I have recently adopted a new point of view. A friend of mine argued vehemently against Newdow, pointing out that the phrase "under God" in the Pledge really has no religious meaning anymore. And I realized he's right. No kid who robotically recites the Pledge gives any thought to the religious connotations of what he's saying, he just can't wait to sit down and start counting down the minutes until recess. We're not indoctrinating our children, because our children just plain don't care. They want to play.
When we argue that God has no place in the Pledge, we're right, but by including Him, we essentially take His name in vain. Because when we say the words, we attribute no meaning to them.
Often we are so concerned about keeping religion out of our government that we forget the flip side of the separation-of-church-and-state coin: keeping government the hell out of religion.
I used to favor removing "under God" from the Pledge. Now I reflect that it is so established there is no point. And I feel sorry for those officials in the 1950s who were so afraid their sons and daughters might lose faith in God that they had to force His name into aspects of daily life. I regret that their faith was not strong enough to not feel threatened by those who happen to believe something different.
And Newdow, if you want to be a crusader, start going after things that are important.
Song lyric of the day:
"He said so much for our gain
But they use his name in vain
Why has my faith faded?
Heaven's on the way, but everything has gone to Hell..."
- Unexpectedly Sober, How We Fell
For a while now, Newdow's been after the idea of invoking God's name, first in the Pledge of Allegiance, now in currency. Originally, I was all in favor of either removing "under God" from the Pledge or removing the Pledge from public schools, not just for its violation of the establishment clause, but also because of the initial intentions behind its inclusion. I wrote one of my few Orbis articles about it. (I hadn't read it in a while. Interesting how I predicted the currency thing. I rule!)
Ahem, anyway, I have recently adopted a new point of view. A friend of mine argued vehemently against Newdow, pointing out that the phrase "under God" in the Pledge really has no religious meaning anymore. And I realized he's right. No kid who robotically recites the Pledge gives any thought to the religious connotations of what he's saying, he just can't wait to sit down and start counting down the minutes until recess. We're not indoctrinating our children, because our children just plain don't care. They want to play.
When we argue that God has no place in the Pledge, we're right, but by including Him, we essentially take His name in vain. Because when we say the words, we attribute no meaning to them.
Often we are so concerned about keeping religion out of our government that we forget the flip side of the separation-of-church-and-state coin: keeping government the hell out of religion.
I used to favor removing "under God" from the Pledge. Now I reflect that it is so established there is no point. And I feel sorry for those officials in the 1950s who were so afraid their sons and daughters might lose faith in God that they had to force His name into aspects of daily life. I regret that their faith was not strong enough to not feel threatened by those who happen to believe something different.
And Newdow, if you want to be a crusader, start going after things that are important.
Song lyric of the day:
"He said so much for our gain
But they use his name in vain
Why has my faith faded?
Heaven's on the way, but everything has gone to Hell..."
- Unexpectedly Sober, How We Fell
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