Look, I think the dude who took this to court is an idiot,

_t0ny,

I appreciate your very thorough treatment of this issue ('54 was it? I was thinking '52 but am pretty convinced that I am better off taking your word for it!) and I am guessing that you may be characterizing this guy as an "idiot" in a somewhat figurative "what a PITA!" sense.

I haven't seen this guy (the plaintiff) in the media, just saw this interview reprinted on CNN. He does have seem to have a few funny ideas, like "When atheists become the majority in this country..." (OK, that'll be, like, in the year 3067!), but I can't really fault him on his generally professed intent vis-a-vis constitutional issues.

This is not a suit I would have filed. For one, I am allergic to courtrooms and lawyers. Second, if I did, it might make it onto the NBC Nightly News and my 80+ year-old parents might see my mug shot, conclude that I am doomed to Hell, and they would no longer be able to sleep at night. (As it is, I can reveal my true, dark, godless nature here knowing that my folks are not internet-enabled!)

If this guy *is* a major PITA, that would not be a big surprise to me. It is not to say that that all folks that are a PITA are some vanguard of some worthy or admirable cause (and you may consider this guy's cause distinctly un-admirable), but it strikes me that it is sometimes the quirky, PITA type of folks who walk point on controversial issues while folks like me lie back, shelter their dear parents and relations from their true nature, and maybe reap the benefit of the PITA's efforts.

It's not directly analagous, but in this case I think of Jack Kevorkian. How is it that such an unappetizing point man should emerge for a issue with which I feel significant common cause? Dang! Isn't there someone *nicer* -- a little less rigid -- to carry the a right-to-die banner? Oh, that's right, the nicer spokesperson didn't get any media attention...

Likewise, the failure of atheists to build some big shiny temple may come down to the extreme distaste with which a lot of us regard the avowed spokespersons for our "religion", whether living or dead. Think Madelyn Murray O'Hare (sp?). While it does not please me that the KofC managed to get "under God" into the Pledge in the 50s, it does pain me to watch some of these humorless, self-promoting O'Harists behave as if they are my monsignor as they tilt at various church/state issues. Perhaps this plaintiff gent is one of those humorless PITAs? I don't know. On balance, though, I think I thank him for "walking point", even if perhaps I wouldn't want to invite him over for dinner.

(OK, if he wasn't rambling before, he is now! ...)

I guess I maintain a fairly high degree of sensitivity about membership in a minority, when I routinely see and hear sentiments in media and personal life like the prviously quoted woman lamenting the many "blind' godless who don't have the benefit of her particular religion. I send letters to the editor occasionally. I complained to United when i heard this song on their in-flight entertainment. The list goes on. Overall, though, I try not to get too torqued about it because....well...I'm in a minority. Especially on days like this, with continued Republican encroachment, and verdicts like the Cleveland school voucher verdict, I frankly feel a sense of resignation. The notion that somehow I could get more folks to think like me went away a long time ago (Hell, Jim, you're not even willing to go door-to-door on Saturday mornings! What *were* you thinking!!)

The depressing part of this feeling of resignation, though, is that, even if the "Under God" Pledge proponents and school voucher advocates (oh, and may I insert the mandatory drug testing for high school extracurriculars ruling here?) continue to assert their ersatz moral majority and score victories such as this, I don't think that it will satisfy. Maybe this is just US politics, but I think that these folks could succeed in instituting mandatory public school bible study, creationism curriculae, drug testing in kindergarden, and abolition of all public schools, yet still find themselves unsatisfied -- find that the institution of a lot of religio-cultural proscriptions perhaps did not really improve underlying societal fundamentals.

OK, I'm *really* rambling here. Question, though: Has anybody on the BBS read Kevin Phillips recently published book _Wealth and Democracy_?