Comments on: Religion and Democracy http://donklephant.com/2005/09/15/religion-and-democracy/ Big Teeth. Huge Ass. Surprisingly Reasonable. Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:03:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Joshua http://donklephant.com/2005/09/15/religion-and-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-2241 Joshua Fri, 16 Sep 2005 00:31:58 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=870#comment-2241 <i>By now, most people familiar with the case know the "under God" was inserted into the pledge a half century after it was written. The error is not in removing it; the error was made in 1954. We are correcting it now.</i> IIRC the insertion of "under God" came about after someone complained that the wording of the original Pledge smacked of Communism (recall that words like "liberty" and "justice" were staples of Soviet Communist propaganda). Rather than rewrite the Pledge from scratch, Congress evidently saw fit to simply add two words that would clearly distinguish it from a Soviet-style invocation. For this reason I wouldn't characterize the addition as an error, but rather as a once-good idea that has outlived its usefulness (by about 16 years and counting). By now, most people familiar with the case know the “under God” was inserted into the pledge a half century after it was written. The error is not in removing it; the error was made in 1954. We are correcting it now.

IIRC the insertion of “under God” came about after someone complained that the wording of the original Pledge smacked of Communism (recall that words like “liberty” and “justice” were staples of Soviet Communist propaganda). Rather than rewrite the Pledge from scratch, Congress evidently saw fit to simply add two words that would clearly distinguish it from a Soviet-style invocation. For this reason I wouldn’t characterize the addition as an error, but rather as a once-good idea that has outlived its usefulness (by about 16 years and counting).

]]> By: JonBuck http://donklephant.com/2005/09/15/religion-and-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-2230 JonBuck Thu, 15 Sep 2005 20:28:25 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=870#comment-2230 Very well put. Chuch-State entanglements only result in the corruption of both. Very well put. Chuch-State entanglements only result in the corruption of both.

]]>