Along with the American flag, the Pledge of Allegiance has become a quasi-religious cult object for the right wing. In particular, they fetishize the phrase, "Under God." Any attempts by evil atheists to remove this phrase are met with derision on the part of those who see America as the most awesome country that Jesus created. When Al Sharpton did an MSNBC promo that loosely used the Pledge, minus the God part, the right's outrage was articulated by the Media Research Center's Dan Gainor who wrote that Sharpton "expelled God" from his ad. Today, the pledge loving Fox & Friends, which never wastes an opportunity to advance the evil-atheists-hate-America meme, reported on a case, now before the Massachusetts Supreme Court, about whether the daily recitation of the Pledge is OMG a violation of students' rights - a propaganda twofer in that the case was brought by atheists and involves the sacred "under God" section - a case that has Peter Johnson Jr. and Steve Doocy, very "disturbed." OMG!

The segment opened with triumphant music and a great big, American flag visual with "Prescription for America" superimposed over it. Jesus BFF and uber patriot Steve Doocy played video of the late comedian, Red Skelton, lamenting the possibility that "under God" might be taken from the Pledge. Doocy reported that "Skelton's fear is now a strong possibility." He spoke about how a Massachusetts court is set to hear a case that would "banish the words under God" from the Pledge. In case you didn't get the significance of this outrage, the chyron read "Challenging God, Pledge Case Reaches MA High Court." (So contesting words in the Pledge is challenging "God?" Wow!)

He introduced "Fox legal analyst," Roger Ailes' personal attorney, NY Catholic arch-diocesan litigator, and Knight of Malta (more posh and exclusive than the K of C) Peter Johnson Jr. who, last year, continued the Fox & Friends attack on a public official who refused the say the Pledge at town meetings because she felt that is a prayer and, as such, violates the First Amendment. Johnson exclaimed that Skelton was "prophetic." He described how the "new assault" on the Pledge will be handled by the MA court. In case you don't know who you need to hate, the chyron provided the answer: "Pledge Problem, Atheists Challenging "Under God" Wording." He informed the viewers that the school district says that the recitation isn't mandatory and "this is based on our cultural and historical roots."

Doocy reinforced the bogus propaganda: "That's the key, it's historical." Johnson repeated "it's historical." He noted that no court has considered the Pledge to be religious. He whined that "there's something wrong in our country" when "pledging" and "allegiance to the republic that stands for liberty and justice" become a problem. In spluttering about the history of the Pledge, he noted that it was written in the 1890's and "reformed" in 1954 "based upon a lawyer from the Sons of the American Revolution and the Knights of Columbus." ("Historical Roots" going back a little over one hundred years?) Without mentioning that the Pledge was written by a socialist who was an official of the National Education Association teacher's union. Johnson dramatically preached that the country was founded on "an understanding of natural rights, of divine rights that any government can't pull away from us." Throughout his screed, Doocy provided affirmation with lots of "right" and "uh-huh's."

Doocy advanced the popular Fox & Friends meme about how just a few cowardly atheists are making life miserable for patriotic Christians: "Once again, this is being brought by an unnamed atheist couple." (Right, because if they were named, they'd now be getting death threats from the nice patriotic Christians who watch Fox & Friends.) Johnson noted that the claim is about denial of equal protection and that "they are being singled out." Doocy shouted "are they?" Johnson didn't think so and said that "this is a big cultural problem" that will go "on and on" and "it's all the more galling [Steve says "sure"] when we see a casket brought home to the US when folks say 'I'm not going to pledge the United States of America, a nation under God." He whispered "it's disturbing." Doocy affirmed him with "amen."

The "divine right" that Johnson alluded to is the "nature's God" invoked in the Declaration of Independence - a "Deist" god that was very different from that of traditional Christianity. I suspect that the deist Founders, who were products of a secular "Enlightenment" that was very anti-clerical, would be appalled by the two morning "Papists" who are saying that if you don't believe in their version of "God," you're not a real American. And that's really "disturbing."