Scalia Too Catholic to Judge on Pledge?

CATHOLIC LEAGUE, Sept. 11 — Michael Newdow, an avowed atheist, has sued to have the words “under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance — a case the U.S. Supreme Court might take up in October. Newdow has issued a statement demanding that Justice Antonin Scalia recuse himself from the case. Why? Because of Scalia's religious beliefs, according to the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

League president William Donohue said, “The attack on Justice Scalia smacks of anti-Catholicism.”

“Over the summer, U.S. senators on the Judiciary Committee sought to employ a de facto religious test against circuit-court hopeful Bill Pryor,” Donohue noted. “Then we had the spectacle last week of Cleveland attorney Jay Milano contending that no Catholic judge should be allowed to sit on a case he is bringing against the Catholic Church. Now we have Newdow trying to silence Justice Scalia.”

For Donohue, the facts point to “a disturbing trend … to remove practicing Catholics from the judiciary.”

Madonna and the Children

VDARE.COM, Sept. 4 — In her weekly syndicated column, Michelle Malkin took note of pop star Madonna's new venture: launching a series of children's books — which the singer labels “morality tales.”

This is the same Madonna who kissed Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera during the MTV Music Awards, broadcast nationally, while Madonna's 6-year-old daughter Lourdes Maria Ciccone stood by.

Lourdes had played a part in the pop stars' raunchy cover of her mother's tune “Like a Virgin.” According to Malkin, the little girl “was dressed in first Communion white, decked out in lace gloves, a crucifix and a studded belt with the words ‘BOY TOY.’” Her role on stage was to toss “flower petals on the dance floor while a mosh pit of fans writhed in front of her and the porno soundtrack throbbed behind her,” Malkin reported.

Madonna said she wrote her children's books because existing kids' titles are “vapid and vacant,” containing “no lessons” for kids, Malkin noted. It wasn't her assumption of moral authority. Last year, Malkin said, Madonna complained about the indecency of television, exclaiming, “People have no morals, I swear to God.”

Atheist Group Denounces Cross at Ground Zero

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Sept. 8 — One notable fragment of the fallen World Trade Center was a steel beam that survived, standing in the unmistakable shape of a cross. The cross now stands on the edge of the Ground Zero site — where apparently it has outraged a local atheist group.

“Many people who died on Sept. 11 weren't Christian. There were Jews, Muslims and atheists who died,” said Ellen Johnson, president of a group called American Atheists. “This is a Christian religious advertisement, and allowing it to stay there is an insult to everyone who doesn't believe in that particular religion.”

The cross now stands on New York Port Authority property and bears the names of emergency workers who died trying to save others, and a scrawled message concerning the terrorists: “May God forgive their evil.”

The overwhelming number of funerals or memorials for the 343 firemen and 23 police officers who died in the disaster were Catholic Masses.