When my family moved from its blue collar neighborhood in Detroit to a white collar neighborhood in suburban Birmingham, Michigan, I was, for the first time in my young life, asked — required? — to stand, face the American flag at the front of the classroom, and “pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.”
I went along with it. I said the Pledge of Allegiance. I was a teenager and everybody was doing it — the cool kids and the nerds, the football team and the class clown. I didn’t give it a second thought. I pledged my allegiance.
But in the years since, I’ve had second thoughts about that Pledge — some negative, and some so deeply positive that I’d like to share them with you today.
Pledging Allegiance — It’s a Lot Like Worship
Pledge allegiance to a flag? To a thing? It feels idolatrous.
I’m with the Jehovah’s Witnesses on this one. “We cannot conscientiously give what we view as worship,” explains a Witness website, “to anyone or anything except our God, Jehovah.”
Sounds right to me. Putting one’s right hand over one’s heart and reciting those words feels a lot like worship. And I, for one, am not so sure it’s a good idea to worship — to submit unconditionally — to anyone or anything.
As for the rest of the Pledge (which, just so you know, I can still recite verbatim all these years later), my feelings are mixed.
And to the Republic
The next line reads: ” . . . and to the republic, for which it stands . . . ”
I’m good with “republic.” Nice reminder that the US of A is not, strictly speaking, an ancient Greek direct democracy. It’s a government of representatives elected by the people — who hold (in theory, at least) the real power.
I’m also good with what comes next: ” . . . one nation . . .” I like my country. I like being part of this singular, wonderfully vast spot on earth. It’s home and I like it.
But I’m not so sure about that word “indivisible.” I smell an agenda here — someone is trying too hard to make everybody get along and stick together and, I suspect, blend in with the white Protestant mainstream at the time the pledge was written — 1892.
One Nation — Under Whose God?
Then there are those “under God” words.
Under God?
Whose God? Which God? The God of Abraham? The God of Zoroaster? The Sacred Feminine? The Tao? My ancestors? Yours?
The words “under God” were added into the pledge during the Cold War in an attempt to distinguish between “Christian” America and “atheistic” communism.
The Red Scare of the 1940s and ’50s has since abated. Yet a whopping 47 states in the USA now require students in public schools to recite the Pledge of Allegiance — to pledge their allegiance, willingly or not, to a marvelously conceived, but grievously flawed entity, the US of A — and to its God, whoever that is.
Why Bother With the Fourth of July?
And now, finally, we come to the last six words of the pledge. They are the reason I’m bothering to write this post. They are the reason I’m celebrating my home country on its 247th anniversary.
They are are the reason I own an American flag. They are the reason I wish my arms had been long enough earlier this week to slip my flag’s pole into its bracket and let my flag fly for all the neighborhood to see.
And those words are:
” . . . with liberty and justice for all.”
They pretty much sum it up for me.
With Liberty and Justice for All
Liberty — liberty to take a job or not take a job. To marry or not to marry. To bear children or not to bear children. To move from one side of the country to the other. To be gay or straight, conservative or liberal, churchgoer or atheist. To say what’s on my mind. To vote my conscience. To refuse to pledge allegiance to a flag, but to celebrate my country by hanging that flag from the front of my house.
And justice — to rest in the knowledge that the rule of law prevails in my country, that if I abide by the rules I can expect others to abide by those rules or face consequences. To live in a place where people — most them — trust each other to do the right thing.
Happy Fourth of July!
Here’s a guest post from Jon that ran in 2010: “Does ‘Under God’ Belong in the Pledge of Allegiance?” More on religion in America at “Author Don Lattin — Americans Are More Thoughtful About Religion Than We Think.”
And, just for the record, here’s the full text of the Pledge as amended by Congress in 1954. “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.”
The flag pole is just too tall.
Right. Maybe the next time I’ve got a handyperson on the premises, I’ll ask them to move the flag pole bracket down to where I can reach it. Good thought!
I have no problem with the Pledge. It’s not worship, just a promise not to be a traitor, pledging not to betray your countrymen. There is no praise or thanks or sacrifice going on. Religion has vows, which differ from pledges. The “under God” might be an issue, although everyone worships something. Don’t they?
Well, a lot of atheists and skeptics would have trouble thinking of themselves as being “under God.”
The problem for me is the concept that somehow our nation is under God’s rule. We are a republic. We don’t have a king. And we don’t have an official God or *established* religion. Power resides in the people, many of whom may feel themselves directed by God, which is fine by me.
And — it’s requiring people to say the Pledge that is troubling. In light of the recent Supreme Court decision that ruled that a website designer could not be required to design websites for same sex weddings — she could not be required to “speak” something that her conscience did not permit — it seems to me that the Court has opened up for legal challenge the requirement that children “speak” the Pledge. We’ll see!
The 1943 U.S. Supreme Court case West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette ruled that students cannot be compelled to salute the flag or recite the Pledge of Allegiance, as doing so would violate their First Amendment rights. The decision applies nationwide, overriding any state or local policies to the contrary.