Christopher Ruddy
Thursday, June 27, 2002

Even liberal Democrats in Congress have voiced their disappointment.

While it is satisfying to see the almost universal support for keeping God in the Pledge, it must be noted that the court's decision is part of a long and successful effort by secularists and leftists to ban God from the public square.

Think twice, then, if you believe this decision will be easily overturned by the Supreme Court.

Already, decades ago, the courts, including the Supreme Court, successfully banned prayer, or even a moment of silence, from public schools.

I remember widespread public anger at some of those decisions, with a lot of smoke coming from Congress about constitutional amendments, etc.

How far we have come!

Some years ago I poked through a high school textbook that had been printed in the 1950s. It was used in New York City schools as a civics textbook.

One chapter of the book discussed American law and began by saying that the Judaic Ten Commandments were the basis of all American and Western jurisprudence. I dare you find that in an American high school textbook today, though it is undeniably true.

Today, the leftists have even successfully banned the Ten Commandments from public buildings and courthouses around the nation.

Why do they find the Ten Commandments so troublesome?

Perhaps it's the commandment that demands that one cannot covet another's property – a principle that has affirmed private property rights and is the basis for limited government and capitalism.

Some years ago, Clarence Thomas noted that when we threw God out of the public schools, other things, like drugs, violence and worse took His place.

We also know that nations that have banned God have suffered.

In the name of a Godless humanity, Nazi Germany, Communist Russia and Red China murdered more people last century than all of the casualties from all the wars of history combined.

Americans are right when they worry about an America without God.

We are also right to worry about this court ruling.

Just over a decade ago, the Supreme Court shocked Americans by saying it was OK for Americans to burn American flags. They said it was guaranteed by the constitutional right to "free speech."

That decision was followed by similar public outrage, with all sorts of promises by Congress to protect the flag, including a constitutional amendment.

More than 10 years later, we're still waiting.

Some of us are still baffled as to where the Constitution provides for citizens to light fires in public demonstrations or to desecrate the country's national symbol.

Perhaps we will also find it equally baffling to live in a nation that no longer allows us to utter the word "God."

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