Should “Under God” be removed from the U.S. pledge of allegiance?

"Under God" is a violation of the first amendment.

As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

The words "under God" weren't added until the Cold War anyway, so I don't see why they should stay there. The mindset of the time was that we were fighting the "godless Communists", so we should add "under god" to the pledge of allegiance in order to help define our stance.
I'm an atheist, and personally just don't say that part anyway. I don't care if it's officially removed or not, as long as people respect my desire to stay silent at that point of the pledge.

It shouldn't be there as it violates the first amendment.

Likewise, students should have the option of saying the pledge or not. I know kids who got in trouble for not saying anything.

I don't know if all schools in the US do this, but in mine we had a "moment of silence" after the pledge each morning.

This bothered me. It's prayer in school. It's a no-no in public schools.

So I obviously sat down at the end of the pledge. I never got hassled though.

Remove it and go back to the way the pledge ws orginally said.
As someone already said, the "Under God' parts was not added till the cold war, with both our pledge and on our money.

I got suspended for three days for not saying the pledge. I am not christian nor am I religious so I will not say it until a time when that line is taken out of it. At first I would just skip the line, but I got in trouble for that.

We had moments of silence as well, but I didn't mind that as much for some reason. Perhaps we do not all pray to the christian god, but we can all take a moment to reflect on something. Everyone prays or reflects or meditates, it just comes in different forms.

True, I used the "moment of silence" to meditate.

• I don't care either way; it's only two words. :/
  You can just say the rest of the pledge and leave out "under God" when you get to it.
  I don't mind moments of silence either. As long as we all don't have to join hands and pray, I'm good.

i think under god has no place in being there.

it should be taken out.

Honestly? I don't think it matters. I just didn't say it, and I never got in trouble for it and I don't think anyone else should either.

Religion to me is a means of social control, I don't believe in it because I don't feel that I need to. I'm a good, honest, law abiding person without it. But, I think some people need it and I think that we should let them have their excuse.

Besides that, I never had to even say it in high school, it was never a big thing in my school district. Do you guys go to a private school? Or, it is just bigger in other places? I know we did it in elementary school.

At private school (in TX) we only said the pledge of allegiance in elementary school. Middle school, pledge of allegiance and Texas pledge, and some prayer that I've long since forgotten. xD Public high school, pledge of allegiance and one-minute moment of silence.

I personally hold no oppinion either way. I was suspended twice for refusing to say the pledge when I was in grade school. Its not that I dont hold pride in my country so please please dont take that the wrong way. I just dont think that students should have to say something against there will. As for the under god, if I had to choose I would probably say leave it out, but the religious fanatics out there whould have my head for that.

i dont know what that means.xD

i personally have no issue saying it, but someone in my class today refused to even stand up during the pledge..he and the teacher got into a HUGE fight...

another kid changed the words to "with liberty and justice for some" and a bunch of other edits

I am no longer in school so I don't have to say the pledge if I don't want to but I don't see what the big deal is if kids choose to remain silent or skip over the parts that they are not comfortable saying or disagree with. I don't think teachers should come down on them for that.

Unfortunately, jurupamae, a lot of teachers do come down on students because of such trivial things. I think that's more of an issue then whether or not the words are in there in the first place.

I think that is just dumb. I know if my child was punished for not saying the pledge or leaving words out I would be at the school having a fit.

It would be different if these kids were doing it just to get on the teacher's nerves but from what I am reading (and I can't speak for all kids) most just don't agree with the "Under God" part and are simply exercising their right to free speech.

"..but from what I am reading (and I can't speak for all kids) most just don't agree with the "Under God" part and are simply exercising their right to free speech."

It depends on the grade level of the student. I'd say kids in elementary school should say the full plegde just because they are too young to have such big opinions. However, at the high school level, most kids in my school don't say the plegde because of it. -.- stupid US.

Uhm. No. You don't have to say the pledge if you don't want to. Just, don't say it, or don't say, "Under God" Simple no?

Originally Posted by J o n a t h a n`

Uhm. No. You don't have to say the pledge if you don't want to. Just, don't say it, or don't say, "Under God" Simple no?

You seemed to miss the point where students get in trouble with teachers for not doing so.

@[email protected] Read my post from the first page. I got suspended for not saying the pledge. And I live in New England, one of the most--if not the most--liberal parts of the country.

My state allows gay marriage in the protestant church but kids are not allowed to sit down during the pledge. Oh, sure I could have stood and not said it--but I felt no reason to honor a pledge that goes against my beliefs. It's not a matter of "skipping that one line"--it's the principal that that is probably the most emphasized line about the pledge.

Ditto what pretty much everyone else already said xD

Originally Posted by Spicy Chicken Wings

It shouldn't be there as it violates the first amendment.

Likewise, students should have the option of saying the pledge or not. I know kids who got in trouble for not saying anything.

I don't know if all schools in the US do this, but in mine we had a "moment of silence" after the pledge each morning.

This bothered me. It's prayer in school. It's a no-no in public schools.

So I obviously sat down at the end of the pledge. I never got hassled though.

With free speech you have the option to say or not to say the pledge. If you don't want to say "under God", then don't. ^^ (stilettolover, I'm sorry to hear you don't have a choice in saying the pledge. I In Texas (my part, at least), surprisingly, we don't have to say it if we don't want to.)

We have the moment of silence, also. The moment of silence is not prayer in school, it is an opportunity for anyone who wants, by their own free will and choice, to pray if they wish. No one is required to pray.

The moment of silence can be seen as a moment of respect for other's beliefs. It can be seen as a time to reflect on the deaths of soldiers overseas or the deaths of soldiers who fought for independence for our country. The moment of silence is about respect, most of all.

I think it should be taken out of the PLedge,simply because not everyone believes in God.
Some people belive in a God maybe, but not exactly the same one.
As well as some people are atheistso they dont belive in God at all.
Or,maybe it shouldnt be removed but some people shouldnt have to say it.

I think "Under God" should stay in the pledge of allegiance because even though the United States is a free country and the people are given the right to have their own region or not, America was founded on Christianity because the founding fathers were Christian.

So, if the pledge was written with "Under God", it should stay like that. You don't have to say it.
I'm sure a teacher wouldn't notice that you skipped that part.