Addition to Democrat preamble questioned

The Democratic Party of Hawai’i added the term “separation of state and church” to their preamble at the party’s convention held on O’ahu a month ago.

Now the Honolulu-based organization Hawaii Citizens for Separation of Church and State is saying this action supports the U.S. 9th Circuit Court’s ruling that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional.

Martin Rice of Kapa’a, a member of the State Central Committee of the Hawai’i Democratic Party, said a voice vote was taken during the convention held in May on O’ahu on adding the term “We believe in the separation of church and state” to the preamble of the Democratic Party in Hawai’i, with about 1,000 members of the Democratic Party in attendance during the vote. He said the addition was approved by a voice vote, and during a meeting of the platform committee at the convention.

When asked how the addition to the preamble related to the recent controversy over the 9th Circuit Court’s decision to declare the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional, he said: “I don’t think anybody who was in on that argument foresaw what was coming down. I don’t recall anyone talking about a pending circuit court ruling.”

“Whatever linkage there may seem to be is purely conjectural, because the statement was adopted before the (9th Circuit Court) ruling was made,” Rice said.

“If it was the other way around, it would have created some controversy have a feeling that maybe it wouldn’t have passed as easy, but it would have passed,” he said.

“I don’t think that anybody wants our government to revert to a theocracy – that is the agenda of the hard right,” Rice added.

“I’m sure there’s going to be discussion but nobody can change the platform until 2004,” he said.

Michael Golojuch, Jr., vice president of the Hawaii Citizens for Separation of Church and State, said his orgaization was happy to see the Democrats “take this bold step forward” in adding separation of church and state to their preamble.

“From our standpoint, religion has no place in our government at any level,” he added. “This really ties into the 9th Circuit Court’s decision Thursday.”

“If they are going to stick with their platform, then they’re going to support the 9th circuit in California,” Golojuch added.

“My opinion: if you can destroy God by taking him out of the pledge in the Pledge of Allegiance and that shakes your faith, then your faith wasn’t built on much, was it?” he said.

“We’re going to be using their platform to hold their feet to the fire…either their platform means something or it doesn’t,” Golojuch said

Golojuch is a Republican candidate for the State House of Representatives, 40th district, and an assistant to Mitchell Kahle, head of the Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of State and Church.

It will be interesting to see if the prayer will be removed at the opening of the next legislative session, Golojuch said. It should be optional or give a chance to every religion who wants to do so, he said.

Lorraine Akiba, the head of the Democratic Party in Hawai’i, said the term “separation of church and state” has long been a part of the party’s platform, though adding it to the preamble is new.

“This isn’t something new in our approach to the Constitution, what we did at the recent state convention was to reaffirm and amplify our long standing support for the U.S. Constitution and values and freedoms it protects,” she said. “As part of our newly adopted platform, we reaffirmed our belief in several key ideas including building strong families and communities, liberty of the individual and separation of church and state, and a strong national defense.”

“We believe that on the issue of the Pledge of Allegiance and the recent legal challenge, regarding whether it violates the constitution, based on what we understand from legal experts, we believe the courts will reverse this decision and will ultimately rule that the Pledge of Allegiance doesn’t violate the Constitution,” Akiba said. “I think that we realize is that the pledge is… a very important part of the ritual of American patriotism.”

Staff Writer Kendyce Manguchei can be reached at kmanguchei@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 252). TGI Editor Chris Cook contributed to this report.