Certainly the majority of people who consider themselves religious would vote to include "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. Yet if there is no God, what does that pledge than do to our allegiance?
Because the existence of God cannot be proven or disproved, it is best that God be left out of our Pledge of Allegiance, for our state and nation does exists as a creation of man, not of God. It was people who founded our nation, not God, and if our nation falters it will be because of people.
There are some who believe that the only real God is that spirit of divinity which exist in each and every one of us. Then there have throughout history been those who believed they were God, somehow blessed to rule with divine authority. These have included Pharaohs, Kings, Queens, Popes and even the Hitlers of this world. Do we pledge our allegance unto the same God these tyrants worshiped?
God and the belief in God are a very personal experience which is why God should be left out of state and national affairs. Of course those who are indoctrinated from their day of birth to worship God and to pledge their allegance to a nation "under God" will refute this ideology until the day they die. They have been blinded by the light, so to speak.
If God exists then this need not be affirmed either upon our currency or in any public national pledge. All such affirmation does is instill discipline and obedience in those who are subjects unto a power structure which uses God as a sword to grant and enforce their rule.
We are none truly free until the pledges we give are free of God or any mention of religion. This is why the original pledge first used in 1892 contained no mention of God, as its author, Francis Bellamy (1855-1932) of Boston, sought a purity of allegiance not chained by faith or obedience to any perception of divinity.
Bellamy's original pledge has undergone several revisions. It was revised in 1923 and 1924 by the National Flag Conferences of the American Legion. Then during World War II, Congress made the pledge part of the US Flag Code which was further revised in 1954 that the words, "under God," were added, primarily to indoctrinate American youth to reject and defy communism.
Yet what is the value of allegiance based upon indoctrination except as a means to pit people, one nation against another? Imagine what our world might be like if people of all lands began their mornings saying, "I pledge allegiance unto one world order, unto a united humanity self governed by peace, love, freedom and brotherhood amongst all people." Then we would could come together as people of a world without war, without oppression, without subjugation by corrupt governments or repressive religions. That is perhaps a dream too grand to be dreamt but by the deepest of dreamers. Are you one of them?
Then there is this thought to consider: it is because we live in these United States of America that we are free to have such grand ideas and dreams for all people, given much of humanity lives under the repression of governments or religions that are not so liberal. That, in fact, is exactly why God should be kept out of government, for there is no more repressive of a state than a theocracy.
Sincerely,
Terry Lynch
Date: 29 June, 2002
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