Comments on: Edit the Pledge

By: P Smith

P Smith — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:37:42 +0000

Francis Bellamy deliberately avoided use of the words “under god” because he believed in a separation of church and state.

Bellamy also wanted to add the word “equality” but left it out because of the times he was living in – slavery was only a few years gone and the Ku Klux Klowns were on the rise. The public wouldn’t have accepted a pledge saying blacks were equal to whites.

The pledge, as Francis Bellamy wanted to say it:

“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with equality, liberty and justice for all.”

Try saying that as the pledge next time. If somebody rightwingnut gets pissy about it, employ the tactic they use: claim that they’re against equality for all people and they want legalized discrimination (which is probably true, but what the hey…).

If the wingnuts want to pretend people are “anti-god” for leaving out the offensive phrase, then claim they’re bigots who oppose equality for all because you put the word in. It’s no worse than what they’re doing.

By: Aliasalpha

Aliasalpha — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 02:30:38 +0000

Wouldn’t it be a case of de-editing the pledge? I seem to recall reading that the under god thing was added in the 50s, probably in the hopes of setting commie infiltrators on fire buy making them say the G word

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 22:56:42 +0000

Walton, it does not miss the point at all! Yes, you are correct that there are many reasons to not have the pledge.

See: http://goo.gl/WTNsR

But the particular issue here is the prayer, and there are specific organizations that specifically go after church-state issues, and they are allowed to do so in preference to state-being-stupid issues. That’s a different group!

By: Walton

Walton — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 21:24:58 +0000

See, I think this misses the point; making kids in school recite a nationalistic creed (before they’re old enough to understand and question its implications) is creepy in and of itself, with or without deities. Nationalist indoctrination isn’t any less bad than religious indoctrination.

(And in the US, it’s the intertwining of self-congratulatory tribal nationalism and fundamentalist religion that has produced some of the worst political tendencies, not least the Tea Party. Both of these bases need to be attacked concurrently, not just one.)

By: Randomfactor

Randomfactor — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:58:05 +0000

An acquaintence of mine in high school recited the whole, revised pledge but ended with the phrase “with liberty and justice for al-most everyone.”

(I just got my CafePress teeshirt with the original pledge on it; can’t wait for the CogDiss it will cause.)