A Mississippi judge ordered an attorney to spend several hours in jail Wednesday after the attorney chose not to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in court. The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reported that Chancery Judge Talmadge Littlejohn told a court audience to rise and say the pledge. People in the courtroom said Danny Lampley of Oxford stood but did not say the words.

Records show Lampley was booked into the Lee County jail at 9:40 a.m. and released about 2:30 p.m. on the judge's orders.

An appellate court has rejected arguments that the pledge of allegiance violates the wall of separation between church and state. Judge Bea said schools do not require students to recite the pledge. When I was 10 I was given detention for asking what the words actually meant and refusing to stand until I understood. Even without this phrase "under God" the pledge is designed to inculcate the most nefarious form of idolatry, the worship of an omnipotent, omniscient omnibenevolent government.