In recent years the government in the United States has been slowly taking the words "under God" out of the pledge of allegiance. At my school we still say it during the pledge but not in the state pledge, which says "under God" in it also. Sometimes it seems the government wants to have it's cake and eat it too. We paint ourselves out to be a welcoming country for all religions and type of people, but really we cater to the majority.
In order to begin my argument, you should be informed of a few things. By 1702 all thirteen colonies had state-supported religion. Almost all forms of state-supported religion were removed by 1802. The United States was founded under God, after all. The protestants left Europe and went to the Americas to seek religious freedom. This is our history, but is it right to alienate other religions?
Is the United States a Christian Nation? Our nation was founded on Christian principles, but should not exclude other religions. Barrack Obama stated, "One of the great strengths of the United States is, although as I mention we have a very large Christian population, we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation, or a Jewish nation, or a Muslim nation, we consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values." I agree with this statement very much. When did society start viewing the United States as a Christian nation? Was it when we started taking land away from the Native Americans? Or when we started shipping people from Africa to the Americas to tend our farms? And then what did we do; we justified our actions by using the Bible as a scapegoat. Really, I didn't think Jesus was into killing people.
We do have a democratic process basically making it where the majority rules. But sometimes the majority is mistaken. The majority wants to enslave African Americans? Too bad. The majority wants to enforce a particular religion for all? Too bad. Our constitution was made specifically. The constitution was made to change with the times. But in the case of oppression the correct and just side always wins.
I believe that the words "under God" should be removed from the pledge of allegiance. But only during official government activities. The government should be neutral towards religion. Removing those two words would not be in any way, hostile towards religion. What do you guys believe? Keep the words or get ride of them? Majority rules vs. Minority rights?
Kindell.
Author's Note: Source: http://www.procon.org/
