because of our freedoms...saying the pledge with God in it should be a matter of choice. if someone doesn't want to say it at all or omit the part about under God...that should be their right. but those that want to say it, should be allowed to as well JMO

"feralcatlady" are you saiding that God will get mad if his name is removed for the pledge? ... can you explain your point

Your religion is not a myth in the slightest, I believe there was a Jesus, and he spoke of wonderful things, and love, however when the Christian church came along and stole my traditions and claimed them as their own for their purposes, that is where I fight.

oh...please...!

my question remains the same what inherent harm is having God in the pledge?
most people say it without even thinking in the meaning of the words they are saying.

No. I think it should be left in.

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.

there is no harm to me but to others they find it offensive because of thei beliefs

Under which God?

I do not see the relevancy of "under God" in the pledge of allegiance. The majority of the world's population probably doesn't even know that the pledge exists let alone our disagreeing whether it should stay or go. It was not in there originally and as Christians we all understand that our country is "under God" as it is but we are not all Christians. It sounds a bit like state sponsored religion to me. I wouldn't lose sleep over it being removed. I think it is more important that we as Christians do our best to lead our lives in a meaningful manner and to love others without the condition of religious preference. Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists, what have you, need to raise our families and lead our lives in a manner that displays for the rest of the world that America truly is the land of the free and the home of the brave..... Where the heck is that brass band playing? Oh oh, I'm gettin' jiggy with it.

Our founding fathers believed in God and that is all that matters. If others don't like that they have the option to go somewhere else.

If it's God's will, will it matter?

For those who think they know about the pledge but have no idea as to when and why it was written, here is the poop.


Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931), a Baptist minister, wrote the original Pledge in August 1892. He was a Christian Socialist. In his Pledge, he is expressing the ideas of his first cousin, Edward Bellamy, author of the American socialist utopian novels, Looking Backward (1888) and Equality (1897).

Francis Bellamy in his sermons and lectures and Edward Bellamy in his novels and articles described in detail how the middle class could create a planned economy with political, social and economic equality for all. The government would run a peace time economy similar to our present military industrial complex.

The Pledge was published in the September 8th issue of The Youth's Companion, the leading family magazine and the Reader's Digest of its day. Its owner and editor, Daniel Ford, had hired Francis in 1891 as his assistant when Francis was pressured into leaving his baptist church in Boston because of his socialist sermons. As a member of his congregation, Ford had enjoyed Francis's sermons. Ford later founded the liberal and often controversial Ford Hall Forum, located in downtown Boston.

In 1892 Francis Bellamy was also a chairman of a committee of state superintendents of education in the National Education Association. As its chairman, he prepared the program for the public schools' quadricentennial celebration for Columbus Day in 1892. He structured this public school program around a flag raising ceremony and a flag salute - his 'Pledge of Allegiance.'

His original Pledge read as follows: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag and (to*) the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.' He considered placing the word, 'equality,' in his Pledge, but knew that the state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality for women and African Americans. [ * 'to' added in October, 1892. ]

Dr. Mortimer Adler, American philosopher and last living founder of the Great Books program at Saint John's College, has analyzed these ideas in his book, The Six Great Ideas. He argues that the three great ideas of the American political tradition are 'equality, liberty and justice for all.' 'Justice' mediates between the often conflicting goals of 'liberty' and 'equality.'

In 1923 and 1924 the National Flag Conference, under the 'leadership of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, changed the Pledge's words, 'my Flag,' to 'the Flag of the United States of America.' Bellamy disliked this change, but his protest was ignored.

In 1954, Congress after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, added the words, 'under God,' to the Pledge. The Pledge was now both a patriotic oath and a public prayer.

Bellamy's granddaughter said he also would have resented this second change. He had been pressured into leaving his church in 1891 because of his socialist sermons. In his retirement in Florida, he stopped attending church because he disliked the racial bigotry he found there.

What follows is Bellamy's own account of some of the thoughts that went through his mind in August, 1892, as he picked the words of his Pledge:

It began as an intensive communing with salient points of our national history, from the Declaration of Independence onwards; with the makings of the Constitution...with the meaning of the Civil War; with the aspiration of the people...

The true reason for allegiance to the Flag is the 'republic for which it stands.' ...And what does that vast thing, the Republic mean? It is the concise political word for the Nation - the One Nation which the Civil War was fought to prove. To make that One Nation idea clear, we must specify that it is indivisible, as Webster and Lincoln used to repeat in their great speeches. And its future?

Just here arose the temptation of the historic slogan of the French Revolution which meant so much to Jefferson and his friends, 'Liberty, equality, fraternity.' No, that would be too fanciful, too many thousands of years off in realization. But we as a nation do stand square on the doctrine of liberty and justice for all...

If the Pledge's historical pattern repeats, its words will be modified during this decade. Below are two possible changes.

Some prolife advocates recite the following slightly revised Pledge: '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, born and unborn.'

A few liberals recite a slightly revised version of Bellamy's original Pledge: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with equality, liberty and justice for all.'

It has nothing to do with the founders of our country or their beliefs. Sorry to be a post killer.

thanks for that.....no go back to OP and talk about that.

Wrong.

your kidding right? are you really that ignorant? it's in the damn decloration of independence that there is a devision of church and state as well as no person being descriminated against for their beliefs and you have the balls to say that? do you even have the slightest clue what your talking about at all?

Some people need a history lesson. I mean... why was USA founded again? Freedom of Religion! Not to Colonize for Christianity... uh... I hope people see the difference in those two different wording!

why would someone have to leave? because of our country...we have the option to NOT say it or not. I don't think not saying Under God makes anyone any lesser of an american

Under which God? The God in the Pledge of Allegiance, of course!

the declaration of independence, which was around a long time before the pledge of allegiance, states a seperation between church and state. adding "in god we trust" and "under god" and all that is going against what the founding fathers intended. i never agreed with prayers in school, and having catholic holidays in school either. to me it's very simple. you make room and leway for everybody. we have catholic schools all over the place, you want your kids to pray at school and take off for easter and christmas then send them to a catholic school. thats why their there. they should also have muslim schools, jewish schools, hindu schools and every other option for everybody of every other faith so people can have their practices the way they want.

i don't want my kid involved with any of that stuff until he's old enough to make those decisions for himself, so i don't really appreciate people forcing their views upon him. if it's a public school filled with all kinds of people then it should be universal for all not "well it's already there so we'll leave it that way and if you don't agree then just don't say it". why? why subject kids who can't control that stuff to it? why put all this up for debate? what is the issue here really? it says "god" so all the people who beleive in god think it should stay and it's no big deal cuz they get their way while the rest of us are nit pickers for having to deal with it. sorry but if your such godly people then you would be just as willing to leave it out of the public arena out of respect for other cultures and beliefs.....

God is such a generic name. If you really want to say anything, say Yahweh. But I think it was Jesus who said something like "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." In other words: God and government are separate.