Thursday, November 02, 2006

Pledge of Allegiance


Just this week I came across an article in the "California Lawyer" magazine written by Earl Klein. The article was about the separation of church and state and the Newdow lawsuit to take the phrase "under God" out of the pledge of allegiance. It is the attempt of secular humanists trying to eliminate any trace of religion from public life.
It is interesting to me to see how a small majority of liberals, humanists, and athiests seem to be able to remove so much of religion from schools, government, courts, and public affairs. It is an attempt to truly separate politics and religion. But is this really what is best for our country?
Here is some of what Klein has to say about it. "First and foremost, the Declaration of Independence would have to be amended to eliminate the provision that has been referred as 'a cardinal moral truth, namely that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.'" According to Klein, that declaration is 'without question based on the biblical declaration that God created man in his own image (Genesis 1:27).' Klein goes on to talk about the objection to the public display of the 10 commandments. And yet, in his article he does show how our laws are derived from the 10 commandments (laws against stealing, murder, false testimony, purjury, etc...).
I too have thought a lot about this. I am concerned with what is happening in our society. In the midst of these changes and supposed freedoms, I don't see things getting better, but worse. Kids don't respect their teachers like they should, citizens don't respect their leaders like they should, and the morals of our country, in my opinion, have declined drastically. To some extent I do see this as a cause to the attempt to separate God from every day life.
Now, on the other side, people will want to argue that it is their right to have the freedom to not have God in their life, or have to view anything relating to God and religion. And while I do agree that it is not right to force people to believe, I do believe it is wrong to say that since they don't believe, everything must be removed from view.
As a Christian, not just a religious person, I do believe that God created us; created us in His image, and cares about what we do. To deny this is a person's choice, but it doesn't make it reality. I believe there is valid proof that God exists, that the universe was created by God, that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh, and that salvation is through Jesus Christ only. To take away these fundamental truths, in my opinion, is wrong. And I think we have seen the wrong done by the attempt to rid our society of this. I hope that those of us who do believe, and we are in the majority, will continue to speak up and vote in ways that allow us to have leaders who continually seek to include God in our government and in our choices. Tell me what you think (pastorchrislogan@yahoo.com).