constitutionality of using public funds to promote religion

In response to the original post, I do think that including God in the pledge is illegal/unconstitutional (for many of the same reasons that some of you have already raised).I do not, however, think this matters, or that it is explicitly bad. Of course, then you get into the murky world of good & bad, but I'll put it another way.The role of prisons is not to simply punish the prisoner; in fact, except for life sentences and the death penalty, this is never the case. The goal of prisons is to make the inmates better members of society.So if including "God" in the pledge makes people religious, and thus makes them "better" members of society, couldn't one justify this? Simply as a method of making them better members of society?Couldn't you even justify forcing religion upon people if that made them better members of society? Isn't that what the government is for, after all, with all the laws and rules, isn't it to govern the society and make/help everyone fit in?As a complete and total, but non-evangelical, atheist, I don't know whether this would be "right" or not, I in fact think that "right" does not exist. But I think that enforced or coerced or encouraged religion is probably an effective tool that has been and will continue to be used by governments to keep the populace in line. It works, and whether it's right or constitutional is beside the point in the mind of the government.

I wouldn't either, I'm just saying that God in Government is the way things are. If I were running for public office (don't worry, NOT gonna happen) I'd be wearing a cross every day... it's literally that easy to manipulate people (gee, don't I sound a little antisocial myself now?)I'm just saying I'd focus less on resisting the pull of God in Government and just go with the flow. Why tell these people what what they do is unconstitutional if it doesn't hurt you? You never know, it might even help them. Help them with giving unto caesar what is caesars, for example. (sp? Is the salad and the guy different?)And if you're caesar, I could make a case for school prayers. And imposed religion, etc. I don't think it'll come to that, but if it does... so what?That's the great thing about atheism... it's just life. And then you die, and you really don't care anymore, because you are decomposing.Which kind of makes everything pointless.and thank you, I'm looking forward to spending unhealthy amounts of time on online forums... it's been too long.