I Pledge Allegiance...
This is my version of the Pledge of Allegiance. I'll just be blunt, open mouth, insert feet, and say that I am opposed to requiring it in schools. I particularly abhor the whole "one nation under god" line that was inserted by congress sometime in the 40s or 50s.
I remember as a child repeating the pledge by rote, one hand over my heart, supposedly looking at the flag, but in reality looking around at everyone else, wondering why we were doing this, but not really thinking about what we were unknowingly saying.
"I pledge allegiance to the flag, and to the republic for which it stands" strikes me in some ways as slightly idolatrous. While I respect the flag, and when flown in appropriate circumstances, it can bring tears of joy to my eyes, I dislike the idea of pledging allegiance to a symbol. And these days, I don't even know if I CAN pledge allegiance to the republic for which it stands, as that republic seems to be going in directions that are contradictory to my own hopes for our country.
"One country, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all" is just outright hypocritical. Obviously, we're talking about a christian god, if we are truly one country under a god. In principle, yes, I can go along with this, but in practice, there are too many religious faiths here. Does this line blur the boundary between church and state? Probably not legally, but it is a little too much of a slippery slope for my tastes. "Indivisible?" One need look no further than our most recent election to see how untrue that line is...Bush received the most votes of any sitting president ever; Kerry received the second highest number of votes. And I really don't even feel like commenting on the "liberty and justice for all" part. I'll just get too upset.
So there is my rant for the day.
End.