[lit-ideas] atheism and authoritarianism
- From: "Torgeir Fjeld" <torgfje2@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 16:43:26 -0000
Michael A. Newdow stood before the justices of the Supreme Court on
Wednesday, pointed to one of the courtroom's two American flags and
declared: "I am an atheist. I don't believe in God." [...] He then
proceeded to argue his own case for why the daily recitation of the
Pledge of Allegiance in his daughter's public school classroom
violates the Constitution as long as the pledge contains the words
"under God."
[...] When Dr. Newdow described "under God" as a divisive addition to
the pledge, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist asked him what the
vote in Congress had been 50 years ago when the phrase was inserted.
The vote was unanimous, Dr. Newdow said.
"Well, that doesn't sound divisive," the chief justice observed.
Dr. Newdow shot back, "That's only because no atheist can get elected
to public office."
The courtroom audience broke into applause, an exceedingly rare event
that left the chief justice temporarily nonplussed. He appeared to
collect himself for a moment, and then sternly warned the audience
that the courtroom would be cleared "if there's any more clapping."
more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/25/politics/25SCOT.html?hp
cheers,
-tor
--
Torgeir Fjeld
torgfje2@xxxxxxxxxx
http://home.no.net/torgfje/
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