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Legion appalled by ruling:
'Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional'
INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 14 /U.S. Newswire/
-- Disgusted by today's ruling by a federal judge in San Francisco
that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional, the leader of the
nation's largest veterans organization pledged a total, unequivocal
commitment by America's 2.7 million Legionnaires to "fight with all
of our legal and legislative might to protect the right of
schoolchildren to recite the Pledge of Allegiance."
U.S. District Judge Lawrence
Karlton ruled, "the pledge's reference to one nation 'under God'
violates school children's right to be free from a coercive
requirement to affirm God."
"I am disgusted by this ludicrous
attack on the traditional values of the citizens of this country,"
said Thomas L. Bock, national commander of The American Legion. "I'm
sure the vast majority of Americans feel exactly the same way. The
words 'under God' are a tribute to America's constitutionally
protected religious freedom. There is nothing wrong with
schoolchildren acknowledging the fact that the founders of our
republic openly stated in their writings, before we even had the
Pledge, that the United States is indeed 'one nation under God.'"
The American Legion previously
filed a "friend of the court" brief with the U.S. Supreme Court when
atheist Michael Newdow's lawsuit to remove the words from the Pledge
was upheld by the Ninth Circuit in June 2002 but dismissed by the
top court on Flag Day 2004. The Court ruled that Newdow could not
sue to ban the pledge from his daughter's school and others because
he did not have legal authority to speak for her. In last year's
decision, the court sidestepped the broader question of separation
of church and state.
"What is really at stake here is
the moral direction of our nation - the right of a free people to
recognize that there is a Creator referenced in the Declaration of
Independence," Bock said. "The American Legion will never back down.
The right of our children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance
deserves full protection. We will do everything in our power to see
that right is restored permanently."
In 1954, President Dwight D.
Eisenhower signed legislation inserting "under God" after the words
"one nation." The American Legion supported the addition.
"I am confident that the Supreme
Court will uphold our Pledge consistent with the desires of we the
people," Bock said.
The motto of The American Legion
is "For God and country."
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