Does “under God” belong in the American Pledge of Allegiance?
A friend of mine just posted this on Facebook:
“On the recommendation of my best friend, I am happy to place this on Facebook and encourage others to follow suit. I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation UNDER GOD, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all. OUR COUNTRY, OUR FLAG & GOD DESERVE RESPECT! Let's see how many Americans will ... GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!”
I replied:
“What God? One of the founding principles of America is freedom of religion... or freedom to not be religious at all. For that reason, I believe "under God" has NO place in the pledge of allegiance and should be removed.”
I know my viewpoint is controversial, but I truly have no idea how America can have freedom of religion as one of its fundamental tenets and then have “under God” in it’s Pledge of Allegiance. Whose god is referred to in the pledge? Do you think the “committee” who made this decision (because this phrase was added in the 50’s by a committee!) was thinking Muslim or Jewish or… had any thought at all of atheism? No – it’s a Christian god that’s referred to, as if America and a Christian god are one.
This is NOT true… nor should it be true!
And while we’re at it, I have to say that I think atheism is not accepted at all in America. In fact, I think it’s overtly despised. If you say you’re an atheist, it’s almost seen as synonymous with being un-American. And worse, it seems to be OK in this country to be anti-atheist. People are pretty careful to be accepting (or at least to act in a politically correct manner) toward gays and other religions, but if you’re an atheist… well then you are dirt in the eyes of many Americans!
How American, how Christian, how “under God” is that attitude?!
This stuff really pisses me off.
3 comments:
It was thrilling to hear Obama -- in his inaugural address, no less! -- say: "We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers." I'd never heard a president respectfully acknowledge and include "nonbelievers" before. Progress!
I know! it's unbelievable. It makes me uncomfortable (and I'm an active Christian btw). The USA was finally ready for a colored president but is still not ready at all for an atheist as leader.
Here it's the opposite though. Admitting the be religious is mocked here, considered as foolish....hence we don't talk about it...hence I feel weird when I see other people mentioning their faith openly eg in the "about me" section of a blog.
It angers me too--why does it have to be in there? People can pledge themselves to their respective gods at CHURCH.
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