The Reverend George Docherty of the Huntingdon Presbyterian Church has died at the age of 97.  In 1952, Docherty delivered a sermon stating that the words “Under God” should appear in our then secular (and quite adequate) Pledge of Allegiance. He delivered this sermon at the Washington Presbyterian Church on New York Avenue, just blocks from the White House. It fell on deaf ears.

     However, in a cruel twist of fate, then President Eisenhower was slated to attend Docherty’s church on the 7th of February in 1954, and Docherty new just which sermon to dust off for the President’s visit. Yep, and the rest is history. Within months, kids were standing in schools, repeating it over and over “one nation, under god, indivisible” (or at least as close to that as kids got).

     My distaste for George is tempered only by the supposition that he didn’t know any better. And, more importantly, I would like to believe that the same is true of many of today’s clergy. But, I don’t. I believe that anyone carrying the title reverend around is as deserving of ridicule as the credulous and gullible from which they draw their living.

     From Jimmy Swaggart to Ted Haggard, these men of piety have been bilking honest, non-thinking men and women out of their hard earned money for too many years now. Worse yet, we don’t tax these snake oil salesmen, leaving Mr. Jefferson to spin in his grave. But, one less villain is now among us, and education and thought are pushing the religious and self-righteous to the edge of extinction.

     When mankind finally outgrows religion and god-belief (the two are inseparable), we will be able to celebrate our species’ rise above mythology and the fear of death. Indeed, men like George Docherty (some even well meaning) will just have to find some other bullshit to sell, and jam down our throats. Perhaps by then, we’ll be on to them.

malabbe@aol.com