The Pledge

My last post got me thinking about the Pledge of Allegiance. I can remember saying it all through school and being very proud. The ideas in this short succinct pledge are what we should strive for as a nation.

The Pledge has also been quite the controversial subject in recent years.

Back in 2002 a firestorm was set off when an atheist father in San Francisco objected to the words "Under God" and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that those words were unconstitutional. It eventually went to the Supreme Court who dismissed the father's case because he could not represent his daughter legally as a non-custodial parent. They never got to the constitutionality of the pledge. The fight still goes on in some places and Christians are at the front, leading the charge to keep these words in the pledge.

(It is noteworthy to mention the words "Under God" were added in 1954 and were not part of the original pledge.)

So there are some strong feelings about this pledge on both sides. It has been a very emotional issue. And what I am about to do may anger some people. But understand, this is the way I see us living out the pledge. The pledge itself has some wonderful ideals but I find it controversial for a different reason that the one above. We do a terrible job at upholding those good ideals. So here is what I think our functional pledge is:

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

And to the republic, for which it sometimes stands,

A broken nation, not so much under God,

Functionally divided, with liberty and justice for me and those most like me.

I realize that this may not be true across the board but unfortunately, there is much truth to it. We are divided politically, racially, and even by gender at times. Class divides us (even in the Church) and the culture wars are taking their toll. We view our fellow Americans with blinders on. We can't see the plight of those not like us and can not be solutions to the problems even if we want to.

We need to be as concerned with the ideas of unity, freedom, and justice as we are with the "under God" line. Those ideas are Godly pursuits and it is high time that we admit we are falling well short and start doing something about it. Let's take the blinders off and see those folks that live a few blocks away who do not have it as good as we do. If we do not, there is "NOTHING for all."

I am very glad I live in the U.S. I am very blessed living here. We have more freedom than any other country in the world. We have brave men and women who have fought for that freedom. Both of my grandfather's fought and one was wounded. I am very proud of them both. So please do not label me a basher.

I am far from anti-American. I just wish we would quit lying to ourselves, especially us Christians. We have got to do better. We need to serve the Kingdom first. It is time to put as much time, effort and money into justice and related subjects as we do what words are in our pledge and what documents appear in our public buildings. And more than that, we need to put our hearts and souls into the work that it will take to transform our society. For Christians, it has to be Kingdom thing before anything else.

For your reading pleasure, I found this article. It has a few variations and rewrites on the pledge as well as the 4 official versions. Some are funny and others serious.

Technorati Tags: American Flag, Pledge of Allegiance

Comments

[Chris Alford]

The man is ooooonnnnn fire!

[Fred]

Amen!

[Jake]

Rich, I've read lots of things like this, and I'm very interested to observe and find out how these kinds of things play out here in the US. Having only lived here for three months, I can't see it yet, but I do find myself analyzing society to see signs of it all. In time, I'm sure. Thanks for the thoughts.