Matteo Renzi: “On March 10, our children who attend public schools in the jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit Court, including my home…”

“On March 10, our children who attend public schools in the jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit Court, including my home State of Arizona, were told not to start their day with the real Pledge of Allegiance. An absurd ruling made by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last June held that the 1954 Federal act that added the words 'under God' to the Pledge of Allegiance violated the Establishment Clause of the first amendment. Madam Speaker, our great Nation rests upon the wisdom of our Founding Fathers. Our Founding Fathers created a Nation based upon spiritual beliefs, and yet judges continually misinterpret this founding principle by citing the Establishment Clause. So what really is the Establishment Clause? Within our Constitution, the Establishment Clause was created to protect American citizens against religious persecution, so that the government would not impose one religion, the government religion, so that a government or king would not impose his own spiritual or personal beliefs. The Establishment Clause was not created by our Founding Fathers to sterilize this Nation, to not allow this Nation to utter the name of God. Just the opposite.”