Woah, I'm late :/
Anyway - I've heard it both ways. (I believe that it should be taken out).
At my old school, they said it as "Indivisible" but at my current school, they use "Under God", which is half of the reason I don't recite it with everyone else.
My other reason will still keep me from doing so, but it's good to know that at one point, the country wasn't so generalized :)
Back in my eighth grade year, I was the kid with the eyeliner and chains who refused to say the Pledge because of that little phrase. But over the years, I've become more educated about it, and I agree that it should be taken out., to some degree. I know it probably won't happen, but still.
As noted by one of the people below me, due to the Separation of Church and State, religious tidbits shouldn't be mashed up together with governmental business. With that phrase stuck in, it sort of makes it seem like as a nation, we're fully united under a symbol strengthened by Christian belief. Obviously, this is not true.
Though almost all of the founders of this country were of some sort of Christian denomination, this principle doesn't exactly carry to modern times. With the religious diversity in our country, I think if most agree that it shouldn't be removed, a compromise could be made. Just a bit of tweaking, maybe.
Regardless, I think the Pledge seems too much like a cultist chant. Quite simply, it seems like a mild form of brainwashing, to me. Pledging allegiance to the flag, the Republic the flag stands for...
Which brings me to another point. For those of you who think the Pledge is stupid because a flag won't 'save' or 'protect' us...
Duh. The flag symbolizes the unity of the country that we're supposed to feel safe and protected in, the country that is home to a free society that has nothing to fear under the protection of our forces and leadership. Sure, some might not agree with those points, myself included, but at least the point of the Pledge itself can be rationalized for those who doubt its supposed purpose.
So self-contradicting, I am...
Anyhoo, an interesting topic to write about, well done.
Eh, I really have no opinion. I don't say the pledge. But hey if people want to say it, let them say it. I just think it;s a bit useless. The flag won;t save me during an attack. The soldiers/Firefighters/police officers would. Why don;t we pledge alleigance to them?
I say, get the "Under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance. This isn't because I'm not religious, or I'm a Satan worshiper (which I'm not). I think that the "Under God" should be left out because there is a separation between Church and State. If you combine them while we pledge our loyalty to our country, then you undermine our whole belief system in the Constitution. Some people say that if you don't feel comfortable with it, you should just leave it out, but that doesn't make it acceptable for our government to cater to the Religious majority and combat our right to freedom of religion. We don't all believe in God or at least not the same God, and all of our view should be included and respected by the U.S. government!
I think that it should be taken out. Earlier in history there was not such a diversity in religion, and to most people it applied to their religion. But today, there is a wide variety of religions practiced in our country. And the Pledge of Alligence should be for everyone currently living in America.
I agree with Zeitgest- and Draco_Familiar.
In school, I just don't say it. Not because of religion (though I'm not particularly religious), but because it's a flag. If there was some crisis in the U.S. the flag wouldn't just magically swoop down and protect you. Why don't we just pledge our allegiance to the United States, the country. Not the flag! It just doesn't make sense to me...
Just don't say it, you pile of chodes. That's what I do. If you're going to bitch about freedom of religion, take some freedom of religion and leave it out yourself! It doesn't have to be written out.
I have something against saying the pledge at all. You're saying that you pledge allegaince TO A FLAG! AN INANIMET OBJECT! It's not like it's going to kill you if you don't pledge allegaince to it.
"I pledge allegiance
TO THE FLAG of the United States of America"
I'm Luthran and all, but whether or not the pledge has "under God" in it, doesn't pester me. Besides, I think there is more pressing issues to worry about than the pledge.
What I hate is when peopleare like, "Freedom of religion, blah blah blah." People don't realize that freedom of religion also relates to freedom FROM religion. Sure, those who don't like "under God" could easily just skip over it. But what if we replaced "God" with something like "Satan" or "Lord Krishna." They could simply skip over that too, but you know damn well the uproar it'd cause.
Not to mention, the damn thing was changed because of the "scary communists" who, thanks to the media and other dipshits, made people believe that communists were hateful, blood-thirsty ATHEISTS! It was for a stupid reason.
But when the majority of Americans are Christians, there's no hope. Maybe when the Muslims take over, it'll change to "Under Allah" and then the damn Christians will understand how fucking annoying it is.
I think that we have far more pressing issues in our country and for now the Pledge should be left as is so that we can continue to fix problems that are steam rolling into another 1929 kind of disaster.
they changed in 1892
when ppl were very much into god
our laws were based of the morals of relighion
we are just begining to toutch the surface of changing that
it will be changed soon i know it will
but our country has more important thing to deal with
if you dont like saying it then dont
in school bring up the topic with ur teacher and excuse ur self from saying
or say it the orginal way like in this article at the begining
My issue with this is that so many people are trying to figure out that, as a whole nation, if saying "under god" in the pledge is wrong or right, but i feel thats not the way to do it. it should be each and every persons decidion whether they want to say it or not. In my school, the morning announcements begin with the pledge of allegiance, and everyone is asked to stand and recite the pledge. Some people stand and some people don't, some people say the pledge and other don't. Teachers don't do anything either because most of them understand, like I do, that each persons view on the country and religion is different and its a person's choice on how they want to see it. so people need to stop trying to change everything, and just let people decide what they want.
Many people are arguing that you can just abstain from saying the words "under god." However, having "under God" in our pledge goes against the constitution and invalidates our separation of church and state. Many people in the U.S. practice religions that don't involve involve a Judeo-Christian god. A good percentage of Americans are also atheists or agnostics.
I think the words should be removed and the pledge restored to its original version. If people want say the words "under god" while reciting the pledge, there would be nothing stopping them. It just goes against the values of our country to have "under God" as an official part of our pledge.
It should stay. No one is ever forcing you to say the pledge, or forcing you to agree with it. If you don't want to say it, then don't say it. If you don't believe we are a nation under god, then don't believe it. Your first amendment right to freedom of religion keeps you safe on this one.
Besides, most people in America belong to some form of religion that follows some god. If you don't call your deity god, then you can say it's name in place in place of god, or you can not say it at all. Even if you do say it, I think most people are smart enough to understand that they'd be referring to their own god and not everyone else's. And if you don't believe it in god at all, then just don't say it! The main point here is that no one makes you say it.
You can't even argue that it's discrimination to keep it in there, because it's not a specific statement. It does not say, "one nation under the one certain god that Christians believe in". It says, "under god". God is a general term for a deity that is worshipped- it implies many gods. There is nothing discriminatory or wrong about keeping the term under god in the pledge- therefore, there's no real reason to take it out.
[i]It's not just atheists who might have a problem; think of other religions, who don't necessarily believe in 'God'.[/i]
No one is forcing them to say it. They won't take it out since you have freedom of speach and no one is forcing you to say it. You'll have to think of other reasons why it should be taken out other than it's offending to none one god religios people. The government will just come back with a simple, "then don't say it. No one is forcing you to."
Just like they'd say you don't even have to stand.