I've corrected and attempted to educate quite regularly when someone expresses great outrage that an American would not stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. I bristle with exceptional regularity at those who rant about the evil atheists who would seek to remove that troublesome phrase, "under God" from the recitation.
They will ignorantly talk about the Founding Fathers' belief in God and their recitation of the incantation which didn't exist until every single one of them had been dead for at least 60 years. I run into a brick wall when I suggest that prior to Dwight Eisenhower we didn't mention God and I seem to have turned out relatively patriotic and tolerably moral despite not saying "under God". I've even tried to point out that pledging something doesn't insure you actually believe it or live by it. One need only examine marriage vows for confirmation of the concept.
This may be mandatory reading for the great unwashed of this nation:
The Pledge Now a Book With Actual Facts!
But, of course, the true patriot will not be deterred by facts and history. The zealot knows that despite facts, they are correct and they won't read the book. Why break a perfectly good string of years of isolation from knowledge?
2 comments:
The book may be quite enjoyable; even historically educational - but as far as political controversy goes over the pledge's content, we have Much Ado About Nothing.
First grade put me in the local parochial school in 1954 - when the phrase was added, and the nuns considered memorized recitation of many things an important part of your schooling.
That's how I have never known the pledge without the 'under God' phrase.
Today, the Supreme Court's rulings on the subject have it right: there can be no forced participation - on first amendment grounds - but neither is there a 'right' against being offended by others who do participate in your presence.
On another note, the godless left may have been successful during the 20th century in rewriting history so that many would believe the Founding Fathers were among their number (by very selective quotation - and burying everything to the contrary). However, the overwhelming majority of writings from the grand old framers of the republic put the lie to that purely radical-leftist educrat notion.
From the time I first became dimly politically aware in high school, I had thought the forced recitation of the Pledge sort of communistic in flavor. One does not need to be forced to state what he feels for his nation to feel something.
Im very patriotic, have served my country and am conservative to the core when it comes to Government and its function. I agree with you about the pledge, I think I would find the book interesting from an educational standpoint.
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