When the pledge of allegiance was first written in 1893, the words “under God” were not included. In 1952 an amendment was made to the Pledge of Allegiance, which contained the words “under God” after “one nation.” These words were brought in by the Knights of Columbus. Mr. Eisenhower, who was the president at the time, said: “We are particularly thankful to you for your part in the movement to have the words ‘under God’ added to our Pledge of Allegiance. These words will remind Americans that despite our great physical strength we must remain humble. They will help us to keep constantly in our minds and hearts the spiritual and moral principles which alone give dignity to man, and upon which our way of life is founded. For the contribution which your organization has made to this cause, we must be genuinely grateful.” I tend to agree with President Eisenhower because the pledge is more of a remainder of the principles and morals in which our country came to be than a religious statement. We have this perception that there’s a lot of people who think that the pledge is unconstitutional and the words “under God” should be taken out of the pledge, but in reality it is not so. According to a recent poll done by Newsweek magazine almost 90% of Americans believe that the words “under God” should be included in the Pledge of Allegiance. So is this topic as controversial as it actually seems? I think that some people are just taking this whole issue and blowing it out of proportion. The pledge isn’t enforcing any religious beliefs on anyone and if you don’t agree with the pledge then simply don’t recite it. Only elementary kids are made to recite the pledge and I don’t think that they take into consideration the words “under God” as deeply as some people do. I think that they just say it without thinking about it.
There have been appeals made to try to remove the words “under God” from the pledge. In 2002 when the Newdow vs. U.S. Congress case occurred, the senate voted 99-0 and the House of Representatives voted 416-3, which reaffirm the words “under God” in the pledge. If the people who represents us in court are a true representative of what the American people believe than the large majority of Americans agree that the words “under God” should remain in the pledge.
Rather we choose to accept it or not our constitution was built upon Christian beliefs and the teachings of the Bible. The Bible teaches many of the moral beliefs that we as a nation believe in. A French observer de Toqueville said, after touring America, “America is great because America is good; if America ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” This is happening right now. America wants to abandon and forget the moral beliefs in which it was founded upon and because of that America is no longer the great country that it once was.
By:Gabriela Guzman
http://www.newsmax.com/boone/moral_compass/2008/03/17/80975.html
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~kelsbels/pledge/schools.html
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~kelsbels/pledge/pewforum.html
http://www.kofc.org/rc/en/about/activities/community/pledgeAllegiance.pdf
thealchemistsaint Said:
on March 20, 2008 at 12:34 pm
I smell personal bias, but at least that’s the point of a blog.
We are all entitled to our opinions. This comment is half my beliefs and half devil’s advocate argument, as your comment is half your personal view and half factual.
FIRSTLY: If it was thrown in there back in the very beginning, I could respect the phrase more. I could understand leaving it in to some degree.
THE FACT THAT IT WAS ADDED BY A BUNCH OF BOY SCOUTS, however, that’s what irks me. It seems as if it was to counter the cultures of new people entering the country at the time and the split off of certain people who were disillusioned with the church.
It seems to me that a pledge to one’s country should NOT mean you cannot be faithful to your country unless you are also faithful to the majority’s deity. Is freedom of religion not a core democratic value?
Perhaps these words are not as big of a deal as they’re made out to be. BUT I don’t think the blame falls squarely on those opposed to the words. It is those who made the words a big deal on the other side in the first place that should share in the blame. If nobody ever said: “Hey, look at this. You BETTER be faithful to God,” as THEIR interpretation of the words, then people might not be as opposed to it. I think there’s a phrase somewhere about God thrown into Canadian politics somewhere, but nobody cares. That’s because Canada is not a melting pot like America. We are from many cultures, many religions, many viewpoints. Sometimes there can be tension, but not nearly as much as there is in this country. It is never that big of a deal. Canadians tend to exist in a relative harmony and polite apathy.
Aha. Here I am on my Canada soapbox again.
BUT THE POINT IS, maybe it shouldn’t be such a big deal, but it’s been twisteds by both sides and THROWN IN BY BOY SCOUTS in the 40′-50′s-60′s somewhere. It seems a little… you know.
I could rant more, but I don’t know enough to rant more yet.
Oh, and a quick note: 9 out of 10, eh?
How many people did they poll? What geographic area?
Think about it carefully. There is a definite possibility of bias.
leigh48 Said:
on March 26, 2008 at 3:45 pm
This is interesting. I had no idea that the “under god” was actually added as an afterthought. That actually changes my point of view on the topic. If the phrase was not in the original pledge and it is controversial, I don’t know why they added it in the first place, knowing that many of our citizens do not believe in god. You also mentioned that nine out of ten citizens want to keep it. Even if this is true, I think that it is still important to consider some options here. If one out of ten people object to it, I think that it is a problem. If you were that one person, how would you feel if your requests were being ignored? This is a democracy after all.