EDITORIAL
Sometimes I get steamed, get my dander up, or just plain get p….d off at what people do. I’m normally a calm person and it takes a lot to get me angry. What the heck am I talking about? Some people think that the words “under God” don’t belong in the pledge of allegiance to our Flag.
In 1991, twin Scouts in California (both atheists), refused to say “God” while reciting the Cub Scout oath. They were, “. . . booted out of the organization,” and I think rightly so. They went to court. They somehow joined a troop that looked the other way. After seven years, they lost their legal fight. According to an article taken from THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER written by Greg Hardesty on News page 3, Thursday, March 25, 2004 – “The twins lost their fight in 1998 when the State Supreme Court “ruled that the Boy Scouts is not a business and thus doesn’t fall under the Unruh Civil Rights Act. Which prohibits businesses from discriminating on the basis of sex, ethnicity, religion or lack thereof.”
“The national Boy Scouts refused to recognize the twins as Eagle Scouts.” Their local chapter elevated them to that coveted rank (which to me doesn’t mean they’re ‘real’ Eagle Scouts). An orange can’t be made into an apple just by calling it an apple; it has to be an apple all the way through. These boys are not Eagles all the way through. They’re missing the last point of the 12-Part SCOUT LAW – “A Scout is Reverent.”
They pledged to be reverent when they said the law but claimed to be atheists, or agnostics, or “. . . somewhere in the middle.” To me, it’s cut and dried – follow the rules of the organization or leave – get out – scram – GOOD BYE! Don’t try to change something (Boy Scout requirements) that’s been in effect since 1910/11. And don’t try to change our pledge either although it was changed in 1954 to include the words “under God.”
A piece of history for you (taken from the Orange County Register – Thursday, March 25, 2004 – NEWS PAGE 3):
Titled: ‘UNDER GOD’ CAME LATER – The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy and was published in THE YOUTH’S COMPANION. The pledge originally didn’t contain the phrase, “under God.” The Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men’s organization, petitioned Congress to add it in 1954 as a declaration of God’s place in America – compared to the state atheism of communist Russia.
The twins? From this experience they became ‘inspired’ to go to law school. Maybe the Boy Scout requirements did do some good even with the bad publicity; although come to think about it, in reality there is no such thing as ‘bad publicity’ is there?
It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a mess about having ‘God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance and “In God We Trust” on our money. Why don’t we just tell the 14% to Sit Down and SHUT UP!
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