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Bush: I Want Judges Who Know Our Rights Come From God NewsMax.com WiresWASHINGTON – President Bush on Thursday attacked the ruling by two federal judges that banned the Pledge of Allegiance in government schools. The phrase "under God" is merely "a confirmation of the fact that we received our rights from God," he said. "We need commonsense judges who understand that our rights were derived from God," Bush told reporters at the Group of Eight summit meeting in Canada. "Those are the kind of judges I intend to put on the bench." On Wednesday, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco claimed that the Pledge of Allegiance was an endorsement of religion in violation of the First Amendment because of the words "under God" inserted after "one nation." The three-judge panel ruled that the phrase, which Congress inserted in 1954, amounted to "a profession of a religious belief, namely, a belief in monotheism." Wednesday, Bush called the ruling "ridiculous," part of a wave of criticism and controversy, including a resolution of the U.S. Senate and a demonstration by House Republican members, that has swept the United States. Thursday, the president enlarged on his comments. "America is a nation that is – a nation that values our relationship with an Almighty," he said. "A declaration of God in the Pledge of Allegiance doesn't violate rights. As a matter of fact, it's a confirmation of the fact that we received our rights from God, as proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence." Dr. Michael Newdow, the Sacramento atheist who brought the suit over the pledge, said he did so because he did not want the government telling his daughter what to believe in. The physician-lawyer, who represented himself in the case, said he had received a barrage of death threats since the news of the case broke Wednesday, but he said the court had made the right decision. "I don't have anything against the Pledge of Allegiance," he told ABC's "Good Morning America." "I am against the pledge that has the religious dogma that I disagree with. I have nothing against patriotism."
Copyright 2002 by United Press International. All rights reserved. Sign the NewsMax petition to Save the Pledge – Save America!
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