-Caveat Lector- (I agree completely with this ruling. --SW) ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 12:11:10 -0700 From: Michael Lerma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: !b_a_Act: Fwd: Pledge Declared Unconstitutional
Pledge Declared Unconstitutional By DAVID KRAVETS .c The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the Pledge of Allegiance is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion and cannot be recited in schools. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a 1954 act of Congress inserting the phrase ``under God'' after the words ``one nation'' in the pledge. The court said the phrase violates the so-called Establishment Clause in the Constitution that requires a separation of church and state. ``A profession that we are a nation `under God' is identical, for Establishment Clause purposes, to a profession that we are a nation `under Jesus,' a nation `under Vishnu,' a nation `under Zeus,' or a nation `under no god,' because none of these professions can be neutral with respect to religion,'' Judge Alfred T. Goodwin wrote for the three-judge panel. The court, in the nation's first ruling of its kind, said that when President Eisenhower signed the 1954 legislation, he wrote that ``millions of our schoolchildren will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty.'' The court noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has said students cannot hold religious invocations at graduations and cannot be compelled to recite the pledge. But when the pledge is recited in a classroom, a student who objects is confronted with an ``unacceptable choice between participating and protesting,'' the appeals court said. ``Although students cannot be forced to participate in recitation of the pledge, the school district is nonetheless conveying a message of state endorsement of a religious belief when it requires public school teachers to recite, and lead the recitation of, the current form of the pledge,'' the court said. ------- End of forwarded message ------- "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." -GW Bush during a photo-op with Congressional leaders on 12/18/2000. As broadcast on CNN and available in transcript on their website http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0012/18/nd.01.html Steve Wingate, Webmaster ANOMALOUS IMAGES AND UFO FILES http://www.anomalous-images.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
