In God We Trust?

It might surprise you that I have mixed feelings about the 9th Circuit ruling barring "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. On purely Constitutional grounds, I agree that not only does the "under God" phrase violate the First Amendment, so does "In God We Trust" on coins.  In fact, I think it's self-evident that these violate the separation clause of the First Amendment. After all, why is our government asking children to claim that our nation is subject to God? 

By the same token, I'm not sure this is a battle worth fighting. Nonbelievers often get a bad rap with such rulings, and the backlash often outweighs the victory. You know that this ruling will be overturned by patriotic, everyone-believes-in-God demagoguery that has overtaken the country since 9/11. It could well be like the Scopes trial, which the evolutionists lost in the courtroom but won in public opinion.

To me, "under God" and "In God We Trust" are nothing more than mildly annoying reminders that Americans can't seem to understand a simple principle like the separation of church and state, and are all too willing to trample over the very freedoms that they claim to respect. (As long as they're trampling on a minority's rights.) Imagine if a largely Muslim town required that local Christians' kids make a pledge to Allah while in school. The very same people favoring "under God" would rant and holler, and so would the Supreme Court. Yet the same people are insisting that I send my child to school and would force her to proclaim that our country is subject to God.

Here's a terrific cartoon summing up much of my feelings about the matter.