10/12/03

07:25 EDT

Mr. Madison's Miracle of Rare Device:

The Pledge of Allegiance is an unconstitutional State endorsement of God and religion.

Patriotism is independent of God and of religion. God and religion are independent of liberty and of justice. The word "God" does not appear in the Constitution. God is just an opinion. God is not necessary for good citizenship. The State has no religion.

Prohibiting an establishment of religion incorporates, but is more comprehensive than, prohibiting an establishment of a religion.
Prohibiting an establishment of religion incorporates, but is more comprehensive than, prohibiting an establishment of one religion.
Prohibiting an establishment of religion incorporates, but is more comprehensive than, prohibiting an establishment of any several religions.

No one of the five First Amendment (1791) freedoms (religion, speech, press, assembly, petition) is absolute, e.g. one cannot say anything, anywhere, anytime. The Fourteenth Amendment (1868) extends privileges and immunities under federal law to state and local laws.

A public schoolteacher leading students in oral classroom prayer is unconstitutional. A public schoolteacher leading students in a pledge asserting God's existence and the State's subordination to God or dependence upon God or protection by God is likewise unconstitutional. The innumerable repetitions of teacher led pledging in the public schools make this an egregious violation.

Article I Clause 5 Section 2 of the US Constitution gives each chamber of Congress the right to determine the rules of its proceedings. This is Congress' authority to begin a session with prayer. Congress might just as well begin a session with a heavyweight title fight or fashion show or all three. Congress may be led in prayer by a chaplain under the same authority, but must pass a law in order to pay him from the public treasury. Such a law is unconstitutional. Prayer by Congress is bad form, sets a bad example, and confuses the citizenry, but is not unconstitutional. Worse however, lesser bodies than Congress, such as state legislatures and city councils, imitate Congress and begin sessions with prayer. Such prayer is unconstitutional. References to God in state constitutions are unconstitutional.

Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution specifies that there be a supreme Court, but the Constitution is silent about the proceedings of the Court. The Court is co-equal. No chaplain is remunerated. The Court has the last word on constitutionality. Who's to tell them not to pray? The Court prays briefly and by praying shows their prayer is constitutional.

The Congress, President, Vice President, and Supreme Court have special status because they are invented by the Constitution.

Not-God is just an opinion.

*****

Here is a new, better Pledge:

I pledge allegiance to our free democratic constitutional just Republic, the United States of America.

*****

Madison, Hamilton, et al. wrote the US Constitution without using "God" and without using "flag." Modern legislators stumble over themselves trying to insert either or both. Perhaps these moderns never understood the Constitution and Republic bequeathed to them. Clearly, the Republic envisioned by Messrs. Madison and Hamilton is one in the secular no frills style.

The American Revolution began in 1775, the Declaration of Independence was written in 1776, the flag was adopted in 1777, and the US Constitution was written in 1787. Madison, more than anyone else, made the Constitution. He was President during the War of 1812, the War during which "The Star Spangled Banner," a song about the flag, was written. He outlived everybody who was anybody during those early years, even Betsy Ross and John Marshall, and died in 1836 almost 50 years after the Constitution's writing. When he died, "God" and "flag" were not part of the Constitution. Today, one and two thirds centuries after his death, "God" and "flag" are still not part of the Constitution. Madison had ample time to reconsider the omission of "God" and "flag," and evidently did not regret their absence.

"Under God" means subordinate to God, or dependent upon God, or protected by God. These are not sentiments the government should endorse. The US Constitution prohibits the government from endorsing such sentiments among public schoolchildren time and again.

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Summary Farrago gvant2000@yahoo.com