The Pledge of Alelgiance and Patriotism - under God or not

I think it is rather defeating of our nation, this whole thing about the word God in the pledge of allegiance. Not that the words under God are included or excluded, but the unholy stink being made over it by supposed holy people. It was fine when those words were not there for over 60 years, since the poem was first said like this:

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands one Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all."

The poem, only much later known as the Pledge of Allegiance (see: http://www.legion.org/national/americanflag/flagcode), was never intended to be a prayer when first penned, never intended to be a confirmation of a nation's or person's belief in God, never meant to be anything but a pledge of patriotism to make us all stand together as good Americans. If I want to be religious, I can go to church, or synagogue, or temple, or just get naked in the woods or meadows and whoop it up to the almighty spirit in the sky (but only if I was totally smashed of course). When I dedicate myself to my country, it is to my whole country, that 'We The People' thing, that 'United States of America' thing, that each and every citizen in the country thing - all regardless of our religious beliefs or lack of them. It was not written only for those who believe in any one God in particular, or to those who ever held a belief in any God at all, but rather was written with patriotism in mind. That is one of the reasons America is so great, you can be a patriot and believe in Jesus Christ, or be a patriot and believe in the God of the burning bush, or be a patriot and not believe in God at all - yet the people of this great country do their best to defend the lives and welfare of other Americans, and of our nation itself. Having differing religious beliefs, or not having any at all, and being able to pledge allegiance to our flag, and to our republic, an indivisible nation, despite all of our religious differences, that is a grand thing indeed. It is too bad, and truly sad, that ones belief in their God, in their brand of dogma, often puts one man at the throat of another, even at the risk of destroying that to which we have pledged our allegiance in this great nation. Too bad indeed, because if it keeps going the way it is, there is no hope at all for our nation surviving as we once knew it, and as we hope it to remain.

Don't get me wrong; I do not mind the words under God in the pledge, but nor do I condemn anyone who would rather pledge his or her allegiance to this country without bringing God into it. The latter type of person can be just as much, and even more, of an American Patriot than some who feverishly demand God be be put into the picture, and then believes it is his particular religion's God that is being named as the one mentioned in the pledge. If anyone was being true to their religion about this kind of a thing, they would know it is not for them to take it upon themselves to judge others under God's law, but rather it would be God who is to be the judge. As for determining who is a true Patriot, well those who live by the words of the Pledge of Allegiance, with or without the words under God, they are, in my opinion, true patriots and defenders of our nation.

All the best,
Glenn B

Flag Burning, Patriotism, and Dog Snot - yes they have something in common!

Have you ever wanted to beat the dog snot out of someone, and wanted to do it really, really badly? I am not usually a physically violent guy; I try to avoid violent confrontations, but yet I find myself wanting to beat someone badly right now. Maybe that is because I just read this Vandals Burn Dozens of American Flags Decorating Veterans' Graves, Replace With Swastikas @ FoxNews.com. It is a brief, but very disturbing story about some damage done at a cemetery by whom I believe to be the kind of filthy minded little twits who are running around our country nowadays mouthing off their brand of anti-patriotism and disrespect for our nation and its citizens in general. What these bastards need, I think, is not a psychological review, nor a stint in a jail cell, what I think they need is a good ass whooping 'from here to Carnarsie' (its a NY thing), one in which someone knocks the dog snot out of them (since there is no dog snot in a human head, this beating could take awhile). No I am not advocating, or even hinting, that someone really should go out to find these guys and beat them up because that would not be legal; however if it was legal I would be the first in line because that is how pissed off they have gotten me.

Here is why it pisses me off so much:

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America

and to the Republic for which it stands,

one nation under God, indivisible,

with liberty and justice for all.

You see, whenever I recite the pledge I mean it.

Go here to see what someone else had to say about the meaning of each word in the Pledge of Allegiance. If the link does not work here is the address: http://patriotfiles.org/Pledge.htm). You will need to turn on the sound on your PC. By the way, if you remember the guy who is doing the talking, then you are dating yourself as a dinosaur like me!

All the best,
Glenn B