Who knew Old Glory could cause so much controversy? In American Studies today, we were talking briefly about the 'under goddebate in the plege of aleigance. So I decided to look up some
background info on the subject, and I learned that in 1954, the phrase 'under god' was added to the plege. And it has been that way ever since, until 2002 when a panel of judges ruled the plege 'unconstitutional' because of that phrase. However this ruling only affects a few states, and Illinois is not one of them. Personally, I think 'under god' belongs in the pledge, because religion is one of the big things that unites this country, and it was important to the founding fathers. I suppose the fact that I'm Catholic influences my views a little bit, but whatever. What do you think? Does under god belong in the pledge or not?
I am personally not a very religious person, but the "under god" clause does not bother me at all. It is how i was taught to say the pledge and I never gave it a second thought until someone else pointed it out to me. However, I do think that if it truly "belonged" in the pledge it would have been there from the very beginning, when it was written.
ReplyDeleteI believe that "under God" does belong in the pledge. Religion is very important and has always influenced Americans, especially the ones who founded this nation. I admit, though, that today our society is much less religious than it used to be, and I suppose that this can be connected to the rise of science. So, as a sign of respect to those who created the pledge who were deeply influenced by religion, I think that the "under God" part should be kept.
ReplyDeleteIt never ceases to amaze me how quickly American Christians will claim that the founding fathers founded this country with Christian values. Just to ruffle your feathers, here are just a few quotes:
ReplyDelete"Religions are all alike- founded upon fables and mythologies" Thomas Jefferson.
"the divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity" John Adams.
"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches" Benjamin Franklin.
"In no instances have... the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people" James Madison.
"History, I believe, furnishes no example of priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government" Thomas Jefferson.
Arguing that everything the founding Fathers ever did or said was right is an ignorant stance to take. I will, however say that the undergod clause shows how (despite popular belief) has become more religious. In this time of great logic and science, the church going population is going up. The best stat I could find were that in 2000 33% of "catholics" went weekly to mass compared with 36% in 2005, the percentages are no doubt higher with the recession in full swing. I don't think that we need to push this america back to its "christian values" because, truth is, we were never really christian.
I do believe that "under god" should stay in the pledge. There has been a lot of debate of whether the rights people have been afforded these days are still relevant 250 years after their creation, and despite the debate we have seen no change in those rights. If we believe that the rights that our founding fathers designated for future generations were fair, then there is no reason that we should deem the pledge unsuitable in its current state.
ReplyDeleteI feel that since we learned the pledge so long ago, and have said it without a second thought for so long, that the phrase "under god" has become almost numb, at least to me. Being a not very religious person, I have no real opinion as to whether it should be kept in the pledge, however, I understand people who wouldn't want to keep it because they think religion should be kept out of schools, because I think schools should be as unbiased a learning place as possible
ReplyDelete