Unbelievable...

According to Fox News and from the AP, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco is being sued by an attorney for having the Ten Commandments on a certificate. Well, sort of:

Ryan Donlon said the certificate admitting him [to practice] contains the court's seal which unlawfully contains what he believes is a tablet object representing the Ten Commandments.

Cathy Catterson, the court's clerk, said the seal highlights a woman, known as "the Majesty of the Law" who is reading a large book. At her feet is a tablet with 10 unreadable lines on it — what Donlon believes is the Ten Commandments.

Catterson said the tablet has "the same shape" of the Ten Commandments but "you can't read the text of it."

She said the drawing became the court's seal decades ago, and is a depiction of a tile mosaic in one of the century-old courthouse's ornate courtrooms.
(- emphasis mine)

In other words, in this day in age the establishment clause in the first amendment has been construed to mean that no government agency or representative can make any mention of "God" or "religion" in any context. Ever.

Just last month Michael Newdow, who two years earlier had sued to have "under God" removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, fought to have the prayer during the Presidential inauguration ceremony removed on the basis of it violating the separation of church and state. He pressed further to have chief Justice Rehnquist disallowed from participating in the ceremony because he had become a "willing fixture in a government ceremony 'infused with sectarian Christian religion' and thus had a conflict of interest" according to Fox News and the AP.

There is a very ridiculous precedent attempting to be set here. Not only are any and all references to God by federal employees illegal, but any symbolism believed to have any root in religion is also made out to be establishing religion - which is where my title is pulled from...

To argue that the mere mention of God or a prayer establishes religion is foolishness - the same argument should be made that watching a commercial for a soft drink causes you to uncontrollably desire and purchase that product. To successfully argue that a ceremony with a prayer establishes religion could only be made by an individual so weak-minded that his every action and belief can be manipulated by a speech or public ceremony. What's at work here is the desire to secularize the nation - and remove God from anything and everything, under the veil of "establishing religion." I'm almost sure we'll see this again soon...