Sounds good, doesn't it ? Wait, there's something missing, isn't there ? God is missing, our good old boogeyman isn't in the Pledge ! Is this some kind of sinister secular conspiracy ?
Actually, the absence of God in the Pledge wasn't a problem for a whole 62 years. A peculiar American tradition, the Pledge of Allegiance was first imposed upon schoolchildren on October 11, 1892. It read as this : "I pledge allegiance to my Flag, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for all". It was changed slightly, until the form I wrote at the beginning, which was established in 1924.
The heresy of adding God to the ideal of American allegiance took place in 1954, under Einsenhower. As he authorized this change he said : "In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource in peace and war."
This cannot be anything but a lark. An American president would know very well that America's heritage was founded by deists and atheists, not Christians, and that America's most powerful resource in peace and war has never been religion. Religion has never done anything for America : however, some American presidents, such as Eisenhower, did a lot to help perpetuate the nonsense of religion and god-belief.
This is still the case today. As you know, unless you're living under a rock, the Pledge of Allegiance has come under controversy ever since it was declared unconstitutional. This process was engaged by California atheist, Michael Newdow, who was concerned about his second-grade daughter. The same day, Capitol Hill clowns, led by president Bush, went outside to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. One day afterwards, on June 29th, the judge stayed his ruling until the appeal.
Judge Alfred T. Goodwin said in his ruling : "A profession that we are a nation 'under God' is identical . . . to a profession that we are a nation 'under Jesus,' a nation 'under Vishnu,' a nation 'under Zeus,' or a nation 'under no god,' because none of these professions can be neutral with respect to religion,"
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