Cord Byrd: “we all know that on Wednesday, in a 2-to-1 decision, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that…”

“we all know that on Wednesday, in a 2-to-1 decision, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the United States Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional. The court held that the pledge was unconstitutional because in 1954 the Congress had the audacity--imagine that--to include a reference to God in its provisions. Some say these are just mechanical, ceremonial provisions. Get out of my face. That may be what some people think, but the majority of people in this country I don't believe are thinking in terms of ceremonial language. I was a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives at that time. I am the only Member of Congress today in either body who can say that I was a Member of the House of Representatives on June 7, 1954, when the words ``under God'' were included in the Pledge of Allegiance. Now I see in the morning paper that the next thing these misguided atheists are wanting to do is to challenge the words ``In God we trust.'' I was a Member of the House of Representatives on that same date, coincidentally, June 7, 1 year later, 1955, when the House voted to add the words ``In God we trust'' to the Nation's coins and currency. Every time you take out a dollar bill--that is a pretty popular bill in my lifetime, a dollar bill; here it is--on it we read the words ``In God we trust.'' It is all there. It is on the coins.…”