For those who care to read more about the origin of the Pledge of Allegiance, as well as the time line of changes that were made to the original pledge, please see the article below. Our founding fathers expressly stated that there was to be separation of church and state. America is a melting pot of race, religion, political ideals and family values. That is the benefit of living in a free country, which by the way. the Native Americans were the ones who were here first. So, when anyone other than a Native American makes the statement that "We were here first", it's simply not true! But immigration is another topic for another time. It is important to know when and why changes to the pledge have been made and why the current version, adopted in 1954, goes against the specific intentions of our founding fathers. With the same conviction so many people are outraged that the pledge is no longer recited every day in public schools, people of religious beliefs other than Christianity are equally JUST in holding to their convictions that they should not be forced to participate in reciting something that is in essence patriotism with a public prayer to a Christian God. There is to be no national mandate that only one religion is the religion that all citizens of a FREE country must adopt. Those decisions are personal and should not be a part of condemnation of citizens who have different beliefs outside of Christianity. Freedom to have your own beliefs was bestowed up America and it's citizens. Judging one set of beliefs as valid and any other invalid goes against "Liberty and Justice for all". We have so much divisiveness in this country right now, we don't need additional influences spawning hate crimes and holy wars. I would hope that under my constitutional right to share my opinion, that those who don't necessarily agree with me will still respect my right to share my thoughts as well as provide the documentation that helped form my opinion.
Why we're not one nation "under God' by David Greenberg
The status post that was recently made by a multitude of Facebook users that captured my attention and resulted in my above response was a version of the following, in one form or another:
"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." That is how the pledge of allegiance was written. If you believe that GOD should NOT be left out of the pledge when recited out loud, copy and paste this on your status. 98% of Facebook users won't have the courage to post. Will you be among the 2% that will stand up for your God?
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