First, let me just say this: I think all of us, the legal system included, have much much better things to be spending our time on…

That said: WHY?!?!

U.S. Department of Justice to fight pledge of allegiance ruling.

Just return the stupid pledge to its original state from before we had the stupid Red scare and McCarthyism. Or make the two extra words optional. Honestly, if people decide to choose (without coercing each other to follow suit) to add “under God” on their own, I can’t imagine anyone would object.

It’s a good, patriotic thing to say in the morning, BUT I admit, when I was raised as an atheist in my childhood, those two words confused me to no end.

Here was a country that protected my right not to believe in God, but its public schools required me to say a pledge that acknowledged His existence.

My mother, being a navy vet and staunch patriot wasn’t any help there. She just told me to shut up, stand up, and say the stupid thing. “People have died for that flag, and don’t you forget it, child,” she said.

And no, the fact that I am no longer an atheist doesn’t mean I think any less of this issue. Thanks to 18 years of feeling underrepresented and misunderstood, I’ll always understand how atheists feel. I also sympathize with those who may call the higher power by a different name (or refuse to even give him/her a name).

Invoking God certainly has no place in the public schools, but as long as it kept the peace, I went along with it.

The rest of the pledge, after all, is a pretty darn good thing to remember when we’re trying to remember just what we stand for and why our politics are still worth paying attention to, bullshit and all.