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MINNEAPOLIS – The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that recitation of the pledge of Allegiance in public schools was unconstitutional because of the inclusion of the words, “under God.” Tom Prichard, president of the Minnesota Family Council criticized the decision yet said it was not surprising.
“The court’s decision is outrageous yet not surprising given that liberal, activist judges have been systematically exorcising religious expression from our public life over the past 50 years. From banning voluntary prayer in public schools to ripping down Ten Commandments monuments across the nation to now banning the saying of the pledge of allegiance in our schools, activist judges are seeking to turn America’s public life into a ‘religion free’ zone,” said Prichard. The court’s decision, Prichard noted, is evidence of the faulty view that the First Amendment’s ban on the establishment clause means that no mention of God or expression of our religious heritage can be made in our public life. What the founding fathers intended was to prevent the establishment of an official state religion not rid our public life of acknowledgements of God. “What’s next? Removing “In God We Trust” from our money, deleting from the Declaration of Independence, ’We are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights?’ Or maybe sandblasting off the walls of the Supreme Court, the Ten Commandments? These activist judges must be reigned,” added Prichard. Prichard called on Senators’ Wellstone and Dayton to push for approval of President Bush’s federal court nominees currently being held up in the U.S. Senate by the Democrat leadership. ”The only long-term solution to outrageous decisions like this is appointing judges who will respect the Constitution rather than rewrite it. The Democrat controlled Senate leadership is currently blocking President Bush’s efforts to appoint such judges. I call on Minnesota’s senators to use their influence to see that these judges can be voted on by the full Senate.” |
The Minnesota Family Council is Minnesota's largest nonprofit, non-partisan pro-family organization.
Minnesota Family Council / Minnesota Family Institute
2855 Anthony Lane South, Minneapolis MN, 55418-3265
phone 612.789.8811, fax 612.789.8858, www.mfc.org