Ninety-six percent of all
Americans believe in a Supreme Being. Yet we allow a small, malicious
minority to take away our rights to express our beliefs simply because
they claim they are being humiliated when they exercise their right not
to believe. Why do 96 percent of Americans not have the same rights as
the four percent?
By Rick Scarborough
As George Washington prepared to
enter private life at the conclusion of his valiant and storied career,
he delivered his farewell address to the nation. In it he stated:
�In vain
would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to
subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of
the duties of men and citizens. The new politician, equally with the
pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not
trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it
simply be asked where is the security for prosperity, for reputation,
for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which
are the instruments of investigation in the courts of justice?
�
And let us
with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained
without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined
education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both
forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of
religious principle. Tis substantially true, that virtue or morality
is a necessary spring of popular government�Can it not be that
Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with
its virtue.�
Since 1962, with the unprecedented
ruling by the Supreme Court that the United States Constitution forbade
prayer in the public schools, there has been an unrelenting assault on
religion in America. The Courts of our land simply declared war on God.
For a brief moment following September 11, there was a wonderfully
affirming resurgence of national recognition that America needed God.
Prayer and patriotism reappeared as the national psyche was terrorized
and suddenly reminded that we needed His guidance and protection. I
contributed an article to Whistleblower Magazine in December,
along with Dr. James Dobson and other religious leaders acknowledging
America�s dependence on God. My article was entitled Welcome Back,
God which was intended to remind readers that, in fact, God had
never left America, but rather we had left Him.
�
On June 22, 2002, the Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2 to 1 decision, ruled that the Pledge of
Allegiance was unconstitutional. What�s next? The Declaration of
Independence? The Court stated �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,� �under Vishnu,� a nation �under
Zeus,� or a nation �under no God.� �
�
Judge Fernandez issued a dissent
from the opinion that stated, �we will soon find ourselves prohibited
from using our album of patriotic songs in many public settings. �God
Bless America� and �America the Beautiful� will be gone for sure,
and while use of the first and second stanza�s of the �Star Spangled
Banner� will be permissible, we will be precluded from straying into
the third. And currency beware.�
�
Polling data consistently reveals
that 96% of the American people believe in a Supreme Being. The writings
of our Founding Fathers make it clear that they believed in a Supreme
Being. The justification for a revolution and a war with England for our
independence was predicated by unalienable rights bestowed on all
mankind by the Creator�nature�s God.
�
Americans need to be reminded that
in this case the �Courts� are not to blame, but rather two appointed
judges who have names and an agenda. Scripture states, �strike a
scoffer and strife will cease.� When a man armed with a lifetime
appointment, unaccountable to the electorate, chooses to rewrite the
laws of the land counteracting the will of the people, in direct
contradiction to the intent of our Founders, they should be removed.
Impeachment proceedings should be initiated immediately. Now is the time
for Pastors across America to �stand up, speak up and refuse to give
up.� If we won�t stand for God, why should we expect Him to stand
for us?
�
Mat Staver, legal authority and
founder of Liberty Counsel stated, �The absurdity of this opinion is
what mandates that it be overturned. There is absolutely nothing
unconstitutional about the phrase �under God� in our pledge. To
simply allow one person who is offended to overturn such a vital piece
of our national heritage is an outrage�the Federal Court spit in the
face of our veterans who shed their blood for the freedom we enjoy�the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is the most reversed Court in the country
by the Supreme Court. The decision will certainly be overturned.�
�
This case was initiated by Michael
Newdow, a professed atheist. He argued that �his second grade daughter
was injured by listening to other students recite the pledge of
allegiance, even though she herself was not required to recite it.�
�
Well, millions of children have
been harmed by a small minority of malicious and activist judges who
have systematically created a secular state that is anti-religious and
hostile to people of faith. While our children have not been forced to
believe in evolution or deny that God exists, they have been injured by
listening to lectures devoid of values that convinced them they are
evolutionary species without Divine assistance and accountable to no
one. Reared in society without God and therefore without hope, they now
find themselves in a sea of immorality and growing lawlessness. Perhaps
it is time for you and me to be outraged and defend our belief that God
is and to demand that our judges reflect our values.
�
