IS "GOD IS DEAD" DEAD? :

The Decline of Secularism : Is the judicial attack on the Pledge of Allegiance the end of an era? (Jeffrey Bell, 07/15/2002, Weekly Standard)

The finding of unconstitutionality for the words "under God," by a three-judge panel of the liberal California court, has an almost antique ring to it. The decision was quickly and universally criticized as untenable and unsustainable by elected officials and legal commentators alike. Such jurisprudence is of a piece with the strict secularism that appeared headed for triumph in American politics a couple of decades ago, but is now in clear retreat. By contrast, the Cleveland decision, closely divided as the vote was, has the feel of a watershed moment in a broad shift toward a different, more favorable vision of religion's place in the public square.

For a sense of how far the political debate on religion has come, recall the "religion in politics" controversy of the 1984 presidential campaign. In a speech to several hundred clergymen in Dallas the day after the Republican convention ended, Ronald Reagan urged people of faith to become politically active, to avoid defensiveness about their right to bring a religious perspective to the national political debate.

Democratic nominee Walter Mondale instantly jumped on the speech with both feet, accusing Reagan of intolerance. He likened Reagan to an"ayatollah."

Does life offer a more entertaining spectacle than all the congressional Democrats denouncing these judges who they'd have been praising if the ruling had come on September 10th? Posted by Orrin Judd at July 7, 2002 5:43 PM