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"High Court Battle Comes to UIC Quad"

Source: Chicago Flame
Date: April 27, 2004
Author: Brian Kaper


The instigator of one of the most talked about court cases in the nation paid a visit to the University of Illinois at Chicago on Thursday.

Michael Newdow, an atheist with a case currently before the Supreme Court, held a public lecture and a question and answer in Lecture Center A1.

Over the span of an hour and a half, Newdow outlined his reasons for suing his daughter's school district over the pledge and his motives in seeking to remove the phrase "under God" from the pledge of allegiance. He later took questions from the audience.

The presentation left mixed emotions with those who attended the lecture.

"I enjoyed the presentation and I think it's wrong to have children pledging to things they don't believe in," Rachel Covert, a freshman architecture major, said.

"I don't know where I stand on the issue of removing 'under god' from the pledge," Jeff Grunschel, a freshman chemical engineering major, said. "But I think it's wonderful that [Newdow] is working within the system to change things instead of civil disobedience or silly things like that."

The event was not exactly in line with more traditional lectures.

The evening started out with a mass recital of the pledge of allegiance led by Hemant Mehta, co-founder and president of Students Without Religious Dogma. Although the phrase "under God" was intentionally skipped, there were several people who shouted the phrase.

The event proceeded with Newdow's lecture and also featured Newdow performing a couple original songs on acoustic guitar, such as his piece "Pledge of Allegiance Blues." The night ended with a few heated debates during the question and answer session portion.

Some observers were put off by the way Newdow held his lecture.

"I agree with him that church and state should be separated but it seems that for him, it's all about the ego trip," Student Activities Funding Committee member Eric Stoller said.

"He's totally undercut his position and credibility with his poor singing ability."

The Student Activities Funding Committee provided a majority of the funding for the event.

One of the more heated exchanges came between Newdow and Ed Michael, who was attending the event with his daughter and a small group from her high school.

The two spent several minutes trading arguments before Michael was asked to allow others to speak.

Michael disagreed with Newdow's position on the inclusion of the phrase "under God" and didn't think Newdow's case would succeed.

"He's going to lose in the court. He has no custody rights and [the court] will find he doesn't have standing for this case."

Mehta felt the event was a success.

"I think it went very well. There were expected dissenters but it wasn't out of hand."

"He's the most prominent atheist in the country at the moment and I hope [he wins], but I think it's a long shot given the nature of our country."

Newdow felt that many of those who disagreed with him don't understand the argument he is attempting to make.

"I think most people don't know what the case is about and once they learn, they'll see it is a very simple case."

A ruling is expected by the Supreme Court in June.

This article was retrieved from http://www.chicagoflame.com/news/2004/04/27/News/High-Court.Battle.Comes.To.Uic.Quad-671365.shtml

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