Dan Crenshaw: “Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Pledge of Allegiance is an unconstitutional endorsement of…”

“Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Pledge of Allegiance is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. The Court stated that the Pledge "impermissibly takes a position with respect to the purely religious question of the existence and identity of God." Furthermore, the Court concluded that the Pledge places children in the "untenable position of choosing between participating in an exercise with religious content or protesting." I vehemently disagree with the Court and rise in strong support of H. Res. 459, a resolution expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that this case was erroneously decided. The Court's ruling is contrary to the vast weight of Supreme Court authority recognizing that the mere mention of God in a public setting is not contrary to any reasonable reading of the First Amendment. The Pledge of Allegiance is not a religious service or a prayer, but it is a statement of historical beliefs. The Pledge represents everything that unites us. It is a reminder of the ideals that we all share--patriotism, loyalty, and love of country. While I firmly believe in the separation of church and state, I also believe that the Constitution was not designed to drive religious expression out of public sight.”