As a non-religios person this frustrates me every day when I have to say the pledge of allegence at school. Why has our government not removed this phase when we are a country with no national religion, and a separation of church and state?
I was hopeing some one could clear this up for me.
Answer:
It doesn't violate any part of the first amendment. There is no "separation of the church and state" written in the constitution. The "freedom of religion" aspect of the first amendment includes the establishment clause and the free exercise clause.
The establishment clause says that no government, local, federal, whatever, may establish a religion. The United States may not declare Christianity to be the national religion, and Baltimore, Maryland can not declare Islam to be it's local religion. Saying "Under God" in the pledge does not violate that because it does not reference one specific God or one religion. It's up for interpretation depending on the person.
The free exercise clause guarantees that people will be allowed to worship as their religion instructs them so. Therefore, the government cannot prevent a Buddhist temple from practicing its religion, etc. Because saying the pledge is not mandatory, this is also in accordance with the first amendment.
Basically, if you don't like it, don't say it.
You don't have to say the pledge. You can either keep your hand over your heart and not say it or put your hands behind your back and lower you head in a position of diplomatic respect.
Is it hurting you? Maybe you should spend more time in class working on spelling than letting a "phRase" bother you all day long.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/nat_pl...
Very good article on the subject how Under God was added to the pledge in 1954. Up until then it wasn't in the pledge.
because our country was founded on the basis of God. Check out that money you spend!
i am also a non-religious person, and this used to frustrate me as well. you don't have to say it, and you don't have to not say the pledge at all either. what i do is simply say the rest of the pledge and refuse to say the words "under god". for those kids who do believe in god or feel comfortable saying it they can, but you don't need to. it's there because this country was founded by men who believed in god, when our nation was not really a multi-racial country. if you've noticed, the president is always religious. so trying to get it removed would require him (or her!) approving it, and when he (or she!) doesn't, the rest of congress approving it again. and the people from congress are elected by the public. and the people who can vote are mostly religious.
It's only there because back in the 1950s everyone was afraid of Communists, who were "godless." These days such a large percentage of the country is Christian, not enough people responsible for making laws are willing to lose votes over taking it out of the pledge. By the way, you don't have to say the pledge. That IS a law in our secular country.
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