The Pledge of Allegiance--Ruminations.

One of my friends (real friends, that is) posted this on his facebook status.

I am an UN-APOLOGETIC AMERICAN!! 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!! I grew up reciting this every morning in school. We no longer do that for...fear...of OFFENDING SOMEONE!! Let's see how many AMERICANS will re-post this & NOT CARE about offending someone!

I agree with several points:

1. I also am an unapologetic American. ( I don't need the emphasis, but I am a veteran, so I think I'm pretty patriotic)
2. I grew up saying the pledge, at least in primary school I did.
3. I don't worry about offending anyone. As long as offending isn't my aim.

I just wanted to make that clear before going further.


Going Further:

Ever since I first heard of the debate concerning the phrase, "under God" sometime in the 1980's, I really never got why that phrase was a big deal. I really still don't get it. The phrase was included to the pledge in 1954 after the Knights of Columbus  petitioned Congress for this change in the pledge. At the time, during the latest "red scare" the feeling was that this would help protect the country from the Godless communist threat. Who knows? Maybe this worked, maybe not. 

On the other hand, this is what the pledge looked like from 1924 until 1954:

  "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands; one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all."

Why is this important? It seems that the generation that survived the Great Depression, and won World War II, didn't have the phrase "under God" in the pledge. Does this mean, to the faithful, that these feats were accomplished without God? Of course not!

Since the phrase has been put into the pledge, what has happened to the country? We've become a bunch of whiners in a world where the phrase "good old Yankee know-how" is more about how our corporations can get the government to foot their bills, and less about the innovation and industrial leadership are hallmarks of the American system that made us the envy of the world.

I'm actually in favor of removing the phrase, not because I'm afraid of offending a few atheists, but really because I want to be more like, in many ways that Greatest Generation. Look at the old pledge again, tell me what was wrong with it. If it got them through those times, why wouldn't it be good enough to help us now?