"I pledge alegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Unto the republic, for which it stands, one nation under -God- with liberty and justice for all."
Those few words which students are required to stand for (generally) in the morning or during school sometime. Is that such a hard thing to do, honestly?
I personally am not Christian, which was the religion this country was founded upon, however I am also not offended by the pledge of allegiance. The United States of America is based upon christian (I bounce back and forth between capitalization) morals, which don't necessarily have to be considered christian. For the sake of our founding though we'll go with that for now. In any case, off of that tangent, Why would someone want to go against the things their country was originally founded upon. Sure, things do change, but not something like the pledge of allegiance. It's the pledge for the Goddess' sake!
Men and women have fought in wars and died defending the country they pledged allegiance to every morning in school when they were younger. Taking the word -God- out of the pledge because a lot of people evidentially find it offensive would be a travesty, a mockery of everything they've done and could have or did die for! I've heard for my grandfather that he will not see a single word edited or removed from the pledge of allegiance because he fought for this country and what is was founded upon. The pledge is one of those things.
People shouldn't really get offended anyways. For one thing, they can take it into their own religion and use that. If your athiest or agnostic you can always opt out from saying the word, or opt out from saying the pledge, which anyone can do. For someone like me who is polythestic, think of it as only one of the Gods or Goddesses that you 'worship'. It's really not that hard!
So I ask you, why would anyone want to change something our country was built upon just because of a single word? It's stupid.
yea, you mispelled justice. =D
Thank you, I'll go back and edit that after I finish the entire post... ^^ Greatly appreciated though... if you're still interested come back and read again in a few hours.
~The Vixen: Alyssa~
They just want to start some trouble and perhaps get their 15 minutes of fame.
They just want to start some trouble and perhaps get their 15 minutes of fame.
Yes, but don't you think there are at least a few who would have reasons for their decision to not support the pledge?
~The Vixen: Alyssa~
Check out www.restorethepledge.com/forum/ if you want to learn more about Newdow and his followers.
"So I ask you, why would anyone want to change something our country was built upon just because of a single word? It's stupid."
You're right on that. The Pledge was bastardized in 1954 by the addition of "under god". Stupid. Where was your grandfather in 1954? Why the hell wasn't he outraged then? The purpose of adding the phrase was PURELY religious, as President Eisenhower attested, “From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty.” Not patriotism, but religion. And truly un-American.
I served in the military 21 years. It WASN'T to promote religious fascism, but to protect religious FREEDOM (and MY freedom from it), which you seem to despise. I pledge allegiance to NO nation "under god". My citizenship is more than earned, so don't even get stupid and suggest I leave. You want "god", go find your own theocracy somewhere else. You better expect to take a lot of criticism if you want your religion written into law.
By the way, what war did your grandfather fight in? It had to have been Vietnam or later, if he fought for "under god" in the pledge. Otherwise, someone is lying.
Think about it...
"So I ask you, why would anyone want to change something our country was built upon just because of a single word? It's stupid."
hmmm... as already pointed out, the nation wasn't built on this pledge. The addition of "under God" is a relatively recent development.
But I will ask you this: Is a single word really nothing to get offended about? If the pledge specified "one nation, under no god", would people understandably be offended? What if it were "one nation, under Satan"?.. . How about "one nation, under Microsoft"? Most Americans wouldn't stand for any of these.
So why is the addition of "under God" to the pledge okay. (keep in mind that it's "God" with a capital "G", a singular proper noun which means Judeo-Christian Bible-God, so don't pretend that the pledge is refering to whatever god you happen to worship) The answer, in my opinion, is that it is not okay, and here is one example why:
In Chicago, Illinois, on August 27, 1987, then-Vice-President Bush said "...I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."
Does everyone realize how scary that is? These words were used by our vice president to alienate a segment of society, and they were given credibility by the fact that they appear in our pledge.
'nuf said?
I don't see it as a very dig deal. We're saying it's a country under God..we aren't actually pledging our allegiance to God.
As the previous commenter pointed out,
In Chicago, Illinois, on August 27, 1987, then-Vice-President Bush said "...I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."
That sounds like a big deal to me.
----
Let that resonate,
Moni
“The chief obstacle to the progress of the human race is the human race.” Don Marquis (1878 - 1937)
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.
that our country was NOT founded on the Pledge of Allegiance and that the words "under god" were added to the Pledge in the 1950's to shove the American freedom of religion under the nose of the atheistic Soviet Union. And We're not really one country under god if the existence of said god is uncertain at best.
~Violinstef