THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
(Tuesday) The US Supreme Court says that it is going to examine the question of whether it is legal to have the phrase "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. I am not even going to attempt a prediction on where they'll land on this one. It seems silly to me that it's even an issue. But apparently some people feel that they are violated by the presence of God. (I'm still not sure why the atheists are offended by the mention of someone they don't believe exists.)

So, what happens if the Supreme Court rules it unconstitutional? Do the Christians all take to the streets to loot shops and burn cars?

Do we flee to Canada? Oops. They don't do God much up there, either -- nor in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Sweden, or the rest of secularized Europe. I suppose we could all pack up and move to England. They still say "God save the Queen" there. But we've already been there -- done that. I suspect most of us will stick around and just whine a lot.

Of course, it probably won't make much of a difference in the way we function. We adopted the pledge in 1892 but it wasn't until 1954 that we inserted the "One nation under God" clause. I suppose one might even argue that it was the first generation which grew up "under God" that's been the biggest pain in the American butt. We became the hippies and the yuppies. The United States took a giant leap forward in the secularization game at the same time that we gave God a role in the daily salute to old glory. Coincidence?

I don't know. But again, it probably won't make much difference. If the phrase stays it's not going to make Americans take God more seriously. And if it goes Christians aren't going to take God any less seriously. Perhaps we'll even grow stronger without it. After all, the church was thriving during the first three centuries when it was an illegal cult -- and Caesar was the god who got the allegiance.