You knew this day would come. I have taken time to sit down and think about what I really feel about the recent decisions regarding the Pledge of Allegiance and the inclusion of the phrase "Under God". I will begin with my simple and succint summation, and follow with my feelings on the issue.

The fact is, the courts are technically right.

But the larger fact is that in winning the battle, they may be well on their way to losing the war. You see, the funny thing about the pledge is, it hurt noone in all honesty, it was a benign reference to a Creator, a well established tradition in documents and writings of leaders of this nation from the very onset.

As any parent can tell you, there is such a thing as "picking your battles". When Madeline Murray O'Hair began her infamous crusade, she had a point to be made. Her children were being harassed for their refusal to participate in classroom prayer, a humiliation no child should have had to endure. The initial decisions were well thought out attempts to protect the rights of the minority, a necessary function of the government at times such as this.

But it grew into something much larger. Suddenly every symbol associated with CHRISTIANITY became suspect. The federal courts began unilaterally deciding what did and didn't constitute an endorsement of religion, to the point where many schools now forbid any non secular celebration of the Christmas...err, winter holidays. In fact, it went so far that I have seen many atheists and agnostics roll their eyes in disgust.

The fatal flaw in the response from the atheist community, however, is the very nature of the Constitution. It is made to be amendable, and while we have only ONE such incident of it happening in our history, it IS hypothetically possible to write an amendment to overturn a previous amendment.

If religious leaders of this nation took it upon themselves to lead a charge to amend the First Amendment, it would be a dark day in American History. This cherished amendment and basis of many of our other rights is already under attack from many fronts (including Democratic leaders such as Hillary Clinton), and a well planned attempt to modify or overturn the First Amendment would cause every other right we have as citizens to be suspect.

Such a scenario is EXTREMELY farfetched, I will admit. Most of our leaders recognize the danger of seriously undermining Constitutional amendments (ESPECIALLY the Bill of Rights); this is why they have historically used backdoor methods to do so (gun control laws revolving around the INTERPRETATION of the second amendment, for instance). But very little is truly farfetched when people feel their backs are against the wall and that they are without recourse.

So those who support the removal of the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance would be well advised to consider the consequences of being right. They ARE right on this issue, a fact that I will repeatedly stand behind, but what, truly are the long term benefits of pressing this issue? I see none.

The only long term effect this movement can have is to further divide a nation and create feelings of bitterness and hostility that cannot foster a continued sense of national identity and of community. We've already seen pundits categorize our nation according to the "red/blue" divide; now will we see them further categorize us according to the secular/atheist divide? We are further and further removing ourselves from the idea of being a UNITED States of America.

Come to think of it, maybe the words we SHOULD be protesting are the two words PRECEDING "under God".