thrombomodulin wrote:The pledge leaves undefined what is expected of those who are committing to support these entities, with the exception of the US being "indivisible". Do you wish to commit to the idea that the union is indivisible? This might be hypothetical at the moment, but it has not always been so, and will likely not always remain so. Those who affirmed the nation was indivisible in the 1860's brought about the death and destruction of many. In my opinion, if a State wants to leave the union they should be free to do so peacefully. One of the reasons I find the pledge objectionable is that I do not wish to compel others to remain in the union.
As usual, thrombomodulin, your comments are insightful and on-target.
Here are a few things I have learned about the Pledge of Allegience:
1) It was composed in 1892 by a socialist Baptist minister named Francis Bellamy. This is how it originally read: "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
2) True to his socialist dogma, Bellamy had initially considered using the slogan of the diabolical French Revolution, “Liberty, equality and fraternity.”
3) The pledge has been modified four times since socialist Bellamy introduced it.
4) Both Francis Bellamy and his brother Edward were Socialists. Edward wrote the famous book,
Looking Backward, published in 1888, which was a utopian vision of America “relieved of its social ills through abandonment of the principle of competition and establishment of state ownership of industry.”
5) The pledge was written only a few years after the “War Between the States,” which, I think, accounts for the word “indivisible.” The war was a national tragedy in many ways, and the triumph of the doctrine of indivisibility was one of them. The pledge embodies the collectivist principle of centralization of power in the hands of elitist planners, and of uniform submission to that power by the masses. It is the chant of the ant hill.
6) The National Education Association (long an advocate of compulsory state indoctrination of children) helped promote Bellamy’s seemingly innocent little covenant with the state.
7) Francis Bellamy not only devised the pledge, he also designed a salute to go with it. Appropriately, it was known as “The Bellamy Salute.” Take a look at these pictures of American school children giving the Bellamy Salute.
And here's one of German kids giving the Bellamy Salute...I mean, the Hitler Salute.
Look familiar? Coincidence? Perhaps. But then Hitler, like the Bellamy brothers (not the currently popular singing duo), was a socialist, too. The Bellamy boys dreamed of and worked for a socialist utopia in America. A few decades later, a like-minded socialist named Hitler achieved one in Germany. He fastened State control on the economy. His vision was evil, and the Nazi utopia was a nightmare.
8) In 1940, the Supreme Court ruled that students in the “Land of the Free” could be forced to swear the pledge. Sanely, that ruling was reversed three years later.
9) The US declared war on Germany on December 11, 1941. On December 22, 1942, “Preacher” Bellamy’s salute was discontinued for the obvious reason that it looked very much like the Nazi salute. So, during most of the year 1942, while Germans were raising the Hitler salute to signal devotion to Germany, Americans were raising the Hitler-like Bellamy salute to signal devotion to America. Since December 1942, Americans place their hands over their hearts while vowing to support the American state. Precious little difference, I think.
10) The US Congress officially recognized the Pledge on June 22, 1942.
11) Congress, many other government entities, and many private organizations open their meetings by reciting the Pledge. All but five states give time for the pledge to be recited as part of the school day.
How many hundreds of times I ignorantly chanted The Pledge as a schoolboy and as an adult! I can no longer in good conscience recite it. I am thankful I live in America. I have a special fondness for the Constitution (notice The Pledge says nothing of it). But I will not vow my allegiance to it either. I agree with Paidion. My allegiance is to the risen Christ and His Kingdom, and not to the kingdom of fallen man.
Paidion wrote:I pledge allegiance to the Lamb
With all my strength
With all I am
I will seek to honor His command
I pledge allegiance to the Lamb.
For more information, go to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance