I pledge allegiance
to the flag
of the
United States
of America
and
to the republic
for which it stands,
one nation,
indivisible,
with liberty
and justice
for all.

Sounds fine, doesn't it?

My senator, Dianne Feinstein, jumped on the jingoistic bandwagon, all aflutter over a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling.

I'm soooo glad the court said you cannot force children to swear their allegiance to our country as a religious act in every classroom every day.

Let me count the ways their ruling is right.

God is not god. The pledge doesn't say "under a god" or "under some god". It is "God" with a capital G; a personal noun.

How about we substitute Vishnu, or Hera, or Goddess, or Satan in the pledge? Would you like that? Would that make you feel all patriotic and proud?

I'm Jewish. My God is not named "God". I hated standing up in class, saying the pledge but being silent when it came to the "Under God" part. "One nation, mumble mumble, indivisible..".

The pledge is a promise. Part of my faith, I take oaths very seriously. If the oath includes a religious clause, then you require me to mix civil and religious obligations in one promise. I should be free to pledge allegiance to this country without any reference to religion.

God, as I understand it, doesn't take sides. Does the United States have a treaty with God? God is on our side but none other? Balderdash. So why should we say our nation is "under God"? If you believe in this, then we are under god whether we say it or not.

Freedom. My family, on all sides, came to this country over the past 150 years to escape religious persecution. Including state persecution. It was the government that sponsored pogroms in Russia. It was the Nazi government that ordered extermination of Jews in World War II. In the last ten years we see governments in Europe ethnic cleansing on the basis of religion.

Compulsion. There is huge peer pressure to join in Christmas carols, hymns, and other christian holiday and religious music. I actually sat on the side lines by myself while my class rehearsed and performed a Christmas program. Year after year. Easter, Thanksgiving were not much better. And this is in public schools named for Lincoln, Roosevelt and someone name P.S.59.

There are a million places where you can affirm your belief in your god.

Public school shouldn't be one of them if it's part of the program.

Public schools are the safe place. A microcosm of our civic beliefs applied. Tolerance for multiple faiths is a gold standard. Separation of church and state, or even the suggestion of a state church, is a hallmark of what makes us different from theocracies and monarchies. Kings rule by a god's authority; we threw out the kings because we, as a nation don't believe it.  

Keeping mandatory, institutionalized religion out of government schools is not political correctness.

It is good education.

Some reading:

• Religion and the American Revolution, Library of Congress.

What should Intuit do to provision small business for "human capital" behavior?

What should the next three QuickBooks human capital features be?

more...