Jonah, I don’t have a God in this fight, but Dr. Newdow’s lawsuit appears utterly ridiculous (and your point about how the plaintiff seems to be talking a lot about himself rather than the daughter for whom he is supposedly litigating is very well made). God (oh dear, not Him again) only knows whether those two words are constitutional, but Justice Souter’s hint that this is something so trivial that it ought to fly below the constitutional radar seems right. Every society has its shared rituals, some important, some not, but it is their existence as part of a common experience, not necessarily their content, that matters. The Pledge of Allegiance is one of those. It’s pretty benign, it gives comfort, and, to some, inspiration. Why mess with it? Those who say it can make as much – or as little – of it as they want. Speaking as someone who mumbled my way through years of school prayer, school hymns and school psalms, I know that those two little words will do no harm, and for some, they may even do a little good. Dr. Newdow should get a life. The afterlife, presumably, is not available.