I am a public high school student, and every day I hear the Pledge of Allegiance. And daily, I wonder why I am forced to listen to the words "under God" being uttered in this speech every day by my classmates. Why must I, an atheist, say "under God?" I don't believe in God. And neither do 21 million other Americans, yet my school punished the only student who ever was caught saying the Pledge without including "under God."
The phrase "under God" was not added to the Pledge of Allegiance until 1954, and then only to flaunt the American right to freedom of religion to the atheistic. Soviet Union. And it is a great right, I acquiesce. You can worship whoever you want. Go pray. You can even pray in school if you want to; I don't care. Just DON'T make ME pray. And don't make me look at the words "in God we Trust" on my dollar bills. Because 7% of your fellow Americans do not believe in God, and we are sick of seeing his name on our money and hearing it in the Pledge of Allegiance. That 7% does not include another 9% (at least) who are religiously unaffiliated.
Many of you reading this will think to yourselves, "seven percent?! That's NOTHING! That means that most people DO believe in God! And this is America, so the majority rules, right? So...we get to keep God on our money and in the Pledge, right?"
Wrong.
News flash: you cannot dismiss the views of American citizens just because their view constitute a minority opinion. Ignoring the opinions of 21 million atheists and agnostics is like ignoring the opinions of the ENTIRE Asian-American population (from the 2000 census)....TWICE OVER. That's right. I just likened ignoring religious views to ignoring racial views. A minority is a minority. And a citizen is a citizen. No one's opinion can be ignored or shoved aside just because more people prefer the status quo. And, for my second news flash of the day, I would like to remind you all that our Constitution, the supreme Law of the Land, does not mention the word "God" even once. And thus, the USA is not a Christian nation as most people claim. It is a secular nation whose government is barred from passing any laws which favor the views of any religion over any other religions'. So, I would like to request that we please remove any references to God from our federal buildings, money, pledges, and public schools... because they're unconstitutional.
Really? It wasn't added until 1950? I didn't know that. I've always assumed that "under God" was placed in the Pledge of Allegiance because America was founded on Christianity. Starting with the Puritans, America has been built on Christians (The core of Washington D.C. was designed in the shape of a cross and so on). Because many (I can't think of any who aren't) Presidents have been Christian, Christian influence has been spread throughout the nation. Think of it like Freemasonry symbols, which are also widely spread throughout America (and are on the dollar bill, along with "in God We Trust")
However, I agree that we aren't "one nation, under God" anymore, because there is a vast variety of religions in America (along with people who aren't religious at all). But I think that the "under God" phrase in the Allegiance is there because America was founded on Christians, and so the nation developed "under God". However, people should have the option of not saying the phrase if it offends them.
The USA was NOT "founded on Christians." I'm pretty sure that would hurt, this is a pretty heavy country....just because most of the first Americans were Christians doesn't make the country Christian. Maybe you weren't reading my blog bvery carefully, because I told you exactly WHY "under god" was added....to show off in the face of the now-defunct USSR.
~Violinstef
*Reads post over* where did you mention the USSR?
When I say America was "founded on Christianity", I mean that the starting people of America were Christian. Starting from the Puritans you have the British, then the French and Spanish, then large immigrations from Europe (the Irish, Germans, etc.) all of whom were largely Christian. It was only when the far and middle Eastern people came to America that religions such as Islam, Hindu, and Buddhism came into America. And these religions (along with atheism, which has always been here, I'm sure) have spread across America, so while America still has a majority of Christians, the country is too diverse to be called a 'Christian' nation.
You're right, I forgot to mention it. :P I did the first time I typed the entry, and then it got deleted and i had to do it all over again. But "under God" WAS added to show off to the USSR. That was my point, maybe I digressed too much.
~Violinstef
Actually, the starting people of America were Natives, and their religion was not in sync with Christianity.
F*** Religion. Read more here:
http://www.progressiveu.org/020528-f-religion
I agree. This country was built on the principle that people have freedom to do as they please, including the right to worship any god they wish, or not worship a god at all. This country has become a Christian country unfortunately. If you don't believe me, look at the issue of gay marriage and abortion. Abortion is somewhat controversial, but without religion gay marriage wouldn't even be an issue in my opinion. Hell, George Bush even said we were a Christian nation.
As far as i know, you aren't required to even stand for the pledge, much less say it (at least in my school, which is also a public school) which i think is a good thing, because you shouldn't be required to be patriotic.
I think a nation can be Christian, but still have ____, ______ and _____ religions living in it and be just fine. Just because a nation is Christian doesn't mean all the people in it have to be, just that most of the people in it are. And, if you don't like the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, just don't say them. Don't try to take them out, because there are many, many more people who like them in there.
This is possible, but I highly doubt it is possible without intolerance and hate. Look at America when slavery was around. It was basically a "white" nation. Other races still lived their, but they were pretty much all mistreated (especially the blacks cough slaver cough)
If history has taught us anything, its that if a certain country identifies with a certain religion, than it makes it almost impossible for other religions to thrive without persecution or intolerance. What makes America so great (well theoretically great) is that it not only doesn't identify with a certain religion, it makes it illegal to (or something like that). Examples? Look at pretty much every ancient country, Nazi Germany, etc.
isn't "Christian," because it was not, contrary to popular belief, founded on Christian principles. There are just a lot of Christians in the United States.
~Violinstef
I am not an atheist, i grew up believing in god, and i still do, however i totally agree with you. Even though i believe in god, whenever this part of the pledge is said, i do not say it because i believe that as americans, no one should be forced to say certain things especially if they not believe this. Thanks for posting!
although I do wonder what what cool catch phrase they'd replace "under god" and "in god we trust" with.
~ http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/astroaction149
Around 1620 a group of travelers, the Pilgrims, came over on a ship called the Mayflower. They were escaping the persecution given to them over their choice of worshipping. Not too long after they had landed and settled they found the need for a government and the need for leaders. So with a majority of the people that had come over, being Christian, there was an election and the first elected official was John Carver who was a Christian. John Carver led the people morally and according to what God laid down in His law. So with looking at this history, this country was based on the law of God, the Bible.
American started as a Christian nation, so it's a nation under God. Ever heard of "A City upon a Hill"? If you have, did you know that's a Biblical reference, given by the founding fathers. America was considered a "City upon a Hill". Even if you don't like it, this country was based upon Christian values.
You can say that this country was founded by Christians and they followed the bible because most nations were theocracies back then. Iran is a theocracy, too. So was Afghanistan under the Taliban. We can see how that turned out.
Also, it was punishable by death to be an atheist or non-Christian in early Massachusetts and Connecticut. Got values?
~Violinstef
Show me where this is true, I want facts, because this is something I've never heard. I know those suspected of whitchcraft were killed, which was wrong, but it didn't happen. It was because a person was an atheist or non-Christian. Please show me something that backs up this idea that being an atheist or non-Christian was punishable by death.
The Blue Laws are the best example I could find online. In school, we read laws from the 17th Century American colonies out loud and we found out that "blasphemers and heretics" could be punished by death. If you cut and paste the below address an denlarge the NY Times article, you can read the codes. I beleive it is #14 that says that if you wan to vote, you must swear unto God and declare that "Jesus is the only king."
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C07E6DA113DE433A25750C0A...
~Violinstef