But, apparently, we see some things equally.
(CNN) – Fox News pundit Dana Perino said she's "tired" of atheists attempting to remove the phrase "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, adding, "if these people really don't like it, they don't have to live here."
The co-host of Fox's "The Five" was referring to a suit brought by the American Humanist Association in Massachusetts, where the state's Supreme Judicial Court heard a challenge to the pledge on Wednesday.
The group's executive director, Roy Speckhardt, called the suit "the first challenge of its kind," but Perino begged to differ.
Perino, who was White House press secretary for George W. Bush from 2007-2009, said she recalled working at the Justice Department in 2001 "and a lawsuit like this came through."
The former Bush spokeswoman added that "before the day had finished the United States Senate and the House of Representatives had both passed resolutions saying that they were for keeping ‘under God’ in the pledge."
"If these people don't like it, they don't have to live here," Perino added.
David Silverman, president of the American Atheists, called Perino's comments "bigotry."
"I, for one, am tired of those Christians, like Ms. Perino, who think that equality is somehow un-American," Silverman said. "If Ms. Perino doesn't like being only equal, it is she who will have to leave America to some other country that doesn't value religious liberty."
In 2002, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with atheist Michael Newdow who argued that the words "under God" in the pledge amounted to an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion. The Supreme Court overturned that ruling.
Congress added the words "under God" in 1954 amid the red scare over the Soviet Union. In November 2002, after the Newdow ruling, Congress passed a law reaffirming "under God" in the pledge.
Greg Gutfeld, another co-host on "The Five," continued the discussion after Perino, saying the Pledge of Allegiance "is not a prayer, it's a patriotic exercise. In a sense, it's basically saying: Thanks for giving us the freedom to be an atheist."
The Massachusetts case, which was brought by an unidentified family of a student at a school in suburban Boston, will be argued on the premise that the pledge violates the Equal Rights Amendment of the Massachusetts Constitution.
It is the first such case to be tried on the state level: All previous attempts have been argued in federal court on the grounds that "under God" was an unconstitutional violation of the separation of church and state.
In keeping with my recent opine that judging another's opinion as "right" or "wrong" is, by the nature of opinion, an inappropriate action, here's my two pennies on Perino's position.
I agree with her.
And I share her feeling of fatigue.
Probably even a little more weary, if only because, given what I've learned from Wiki, Google, et al, about Ms. Perino, I've got about twenty years more used up on my life-o-meter and have seen twenty years more of the kinds of things in life, like this thing in life, that will wear'a body out.
This particular thing being that most slippery of slippery slopes, "equality".
The humanists think that reciting a pledge to the American flag that includes the term "under God" robs them of their equality.
Well, I suppose you can't blame em'.
After all, they're only humanists.
Sorry.
Those whose knickers are twisted by Dana's comments (and bet the flag, baby, there's a whole big crowd of villagers, torches and all, already making her life a little hectic) are no doubt invoking that oldie but goody argument that the Founding Fathers were very clear about the separation of church and state.
Here's a thing, though.
The Founding Fathers founded in a time, and in a fashion, that was very God centered.
To this day, we have In God We Trust on our currency.
The song that still brings tears to some eyes is "God Bless America".
Not "Almighty Being Of Your Particular Choice Or, As The Case May Be, No Single Entity Bless America."
And, not for nothin', but the Constitution, itself, is not without its mention of deity.
Article VII reads, "done in Convention … the Seventeenth Day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America."
Gutfeld perceptively points out the Pledge Of Allegiance is not a prayer, but a "patriotic exercise".
That people are free to speak as written.
Or not.
Put less philosophically...
If atheism is your thing and you still want to give a shout out to Old Glory, then knock yourself out.
And just stand mute for the 1/9th of a second it takes everybody else to say "under God".
But, for the love of God, stop trying to get God taken out of everything on God's green earth that mentions God.
Because that's not advocating for equality.
That's misappropriating the use of the term "equality" to make things go the way you want them.
And there is no "u" in equality.
Well, okay, there's a "u".
But, not a "you".
God only knows.
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