Quote:
Originally Posted by Darrell
I'm glad people still do, I've heard some schools do not recite the pledge of allegiance and that pisses me off.
|
I would support saying the Pledge in schools only if all religious references in it were removed, or taught as being optional or flexible. Our nation was founded as a reaction against religious intolerance, and for religious freedom, and that is a principle that deserves upholding.
It just ain't right to force somebody else's kids to say words that are against their family's basic beliefs, no matter what those beliefs are. There really needs to be a way to respectfully salute the flag without doing this. It is right to teach kids to salute the flag, but not right to force them to do it in the name of a particular religion. Despite the fact that "God" refers more or less accurately to the single deity in all of the various flavors of Judeo-Christianity, it does NOT cover religions entirely outside of this umbrella, nor does it respect those families that are atheist or agnostic.
Fundamentally, respect and allegiance for our nation are independent of any symbols or words we mouthed as kids, probably while we were mostly thinking about how to hit the kid in the next row with a spitball. Either we teach our kids those concepts in meaningful ways or we don't. Just repeating simple words over and over again can otherwise turn meaningless and empty, especially for children who are not going to understand the concepts in the Pledge unless they are taught them well. The issue is not whether we're getting kids to say the words, but whether we're doing a good enough job teaching them the meaning.