Separation of Church and State

My only complaint about all the ceremonies in Washington DC concerns the pledging and invocations and prayers that go on in these governmental gatherings. "So help you god" -- what does that mean? Is it supposed to arouse the fear of being condemned to hell if you don't do as you promise? I did find it highly ironic that Dick Cheney was the one who administered the oaths (in tones as scary as could be) to the new senators. Every time he got to the line about protect against enemies from without and within, I wanted to shout out "You sir, are one of the enemies within!"

At the dinner we had to stand up and pledge allegience to the flag which is something I really object to -- but what are you gonna do when you are in a room full of people who worked very hard to make something wonderful happen? In my case, I stood up but did not put my hand on my heart and did not recite the words. When it got to "one nation under god" I muttered "one nation without gods" and immediately felt better! Pledging is a ritual that reminds me of fascistic kinds of government.

Now as for all the invocations that we heard -- my question is -- why do they have to be delivered by ministers, reverends, clergy etc? Why not invite brilliant scientists or philosphers to address the group? They might have something more thoughtful and interesting to say then these other folks who say the same old platitudes over and over. We know that all the ministers and swearing oaths will not prevent some politicians from making unethical choices and take illegal actions -- so let's drop the pretense that swearing to god and saying prayers is in anyway useful.

To this godless liberal, what it means is that some people like to show off in public by taking a holier than thou kind of stance. But the religious don't give a damn, so to speak. They could care less that their actions ostracize the non-religious. Too bad an atheist can't get elected to office. Heck even gay people can get elected to office in the 21st century. How many more years before we atheists and non-religious folks are treated as equals not pariahs?