Thread: The Pledge of Allegiance (part of American schools)

Let's remember what the good ol' USA was founded on, shall we? Let us visit the opening sentences of the Declaration of Independence. Adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776 The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. I've underlined a few words in here to illustrate that the original crafters of our union designated a God and Creator, note the capitalization. That indicated the Biblical notion of God and not the idea of a universal lower case 'god'. Anyone who is arguing that the words under God should not be added because it was not what the original author penned, should also be arguing that the amendments added to the United States Bill of Rights should also not be included, because they are not what the original authors penned. Let's be consistent in our logic, folks. The First Amendment is this Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. We all like the freedom of speech and the freedom to assemble and to petition the Government note the capitalization? for redress of grievances. Why don't we like the fact that Congress isn't supposed to make laws to establish religion or prohibit the free exercise of it? Simply acknowledging it as part of our history is not establishing it as a state religion. That would be as stupid as saying that acknowledging that slavery existed in our past means that it's condoned as a practice in our present time. Yet that's the argument that Atheists take. Pledging allegiance to our country and our country's ideals is not a bad thing. Anyone can simply stand in respect and remain silent if they don't want to say the Pledge of Allegiance, but to mandate that certain words be omitted after they have been part of our national history for over half a century is inane and short-sighted. In the USA we are all Americans. Not African-Americans, not Asian-Americans... we're all one nation, under God. You do not have to worship God or believe in Him, but that doesn't mean that you can take away someone else's right to acknowledge Him. Fortunately in our country we don't cut off people's heads or stone them for having other beliefs, nor do we fire them from jobs or keep them from buying nice houses or going to good schools simply because they pray to Allah or bow to Buddah or worship the trees in their back yard. We as a nation are more loving and tolerant towards different religions than anywhere else in the world, and I've been to enough other countries to be a reliable witness to this fact. Unfortunately the religion of Atheism has been forcing changes in our country and demanding that any respect towards any religion is an affront to them and thus it must be undone. This is favoring one religion, Atheism, over all others. Leave our pledge alone. If you don't want to say it then don't say it, but I abhor the fact that so many people are jumping on the bandwagon of taking the word 'God' out of so many of our documents and traditions. Just because something is popular does not make it right, and often what is right is not what is popular. Now... feel free to flame if you need to. But remember the sayings of a wise man It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Aristotle And if that's not enough, a more contemporary wise man If you really want to persuade thoughtful people...youll need to appear credible - not hysterical. Lower case should work just fine. Mike Rowe