The secularist movement, under the guise of not having other's views forced upon them, continue with their pursuit to remove the clause "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. Don't you just love the irony?
Those who know me know I'm no fan of Justice Brennan. He is the poster child for abuse of power and we will never escape or recover from the harm he and the Warren Court did to this great nation. Yet even Brennan didn't have a problem with "under God" in the pledge. (463 U.S. 783, 818 (dissenting opinion)) This is important because Brennan in a dissenting opinion to a case that upheld religious activity had no problem with the clause. If Justice Brennan did not object to the clause, this issue isn't one of Christians forcing their view on secularists, but rather is one of secularists forcing their views on Christians.
As strange as this may sound, perhaps it's time for Christian society to force the issue. The legal test to see if an activity encroaches on the Establishment Clause is the Lemon test. An exception to the Lemon test is the longstanding tradition exception. We now have four generations that have the words under God in the pledge. It is very possible that the current Court would overrule Lemon and replace it with a less strict test.
Justice Kennedy is the crucial 5th vote in many issues on the current Court. He has stated dissatisfaction with Lemon (492 U.S. 573, 673 (dissenting opinion)) and likely represents the threshold of where a new test would lie. Although this new standard, if it were to be created, would not be as welcoming as I would like, it is still better than the current Lemon test.
The time has come for Christians to stand up for our beliefs. We're not forcing our opinions on secularists; rather it is they who force their beliefs on us. President Obama will reload the Court with liberal instrumentalists. If Christians are going to take the fight to secularists, now is the time.
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