Pledge Of Allegiance Essay

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“Before 1954, the Pledge affirmed that we were 'one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.' Indivisible means we can rise above our differences, religious or otherwise. Liberty means the right to act and speak freely no matter what one's faith or philosophy may be. And Justice, of course, means equal rights for all, regardless of whether or not we believe in a deity.” This quote from the American humanist association describes what happened when we changed the pledge of allegiance. The pledge of allegiance is an anthem that students and adults say every day. We say it to show our patriotism and pride for our country. But in 1954, a phrase was added to our pledge that took away a part of the freedom that we preach about on a daily basis. The phrase “Under …show more content…

While some people agree that America is a christian nation due to the fact that 75% of Americans are Christian, we also have to consider the other 25%. According to Tony Mauro, a supreme court correspondent “When you are saying the Pledge, you are not just reciting a nursery rhyme or passively handling a coin that has 'In God We Trust' on it. You are actively promising belief in and loyalty to a set of values that include, thanks to those two words, monotheism. Not everyone believes in that value. If the First Amendment means anything, those who don't should not feel compelled to state that they do." As it is stated in this quote, no one should be forced to pledge to a god or religion that they do not believe in. This would be the equivalent of having to say “under Allah” or “under Buddha”. There would be protests and petitions trying to remove those words from the pledge. Therefore, having a religious statement in the allegiance is discriminatory. Some people argue that it establishes that our country values religion, but there are many other ways we can show that without using one specific god as an

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