Pledge Project
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.“
In 1954, the secular and rather perfect Pledge of Allegiance was changed to include the words ‘under God’. If you’re reading this, you probably already know. Atheist Ethicist has started a Pledge Project, the basic goal of which is to help get a bill passed that will take ‘under God’ from the pledge. The project is to videotape yourself saying the pledge without the words ‘under God’ and post it on Youtube.
Anyways, this means alot to me so I figured I’d help out, as queasy
as I am about videotaping myself and posting it online. Today is just about the worst acne week of my life, so I’m more queasy than usual. But support is support, so here we go. (I had completely forgotten the words of the pledge and had to read them as I went along. Hehe.) And yes, I know I sound and look terrible. Laugh all you like!
BTW, I read about this mostly from Atheist Revolution. I suggest you read that great blog.
It was Alonzo Frye at Atheist Ethicist who started the Pledge Project. He’s been devoting his entire blog to it for some time now and facing some criticism for doing so. I really think he’s on to something and have been happy to throw what support I can in his direction. For a comprehensive recap, see http://tinyurl.com/5885yh
Francis Bellamy wrote the pledge for the Columbus Day celebrations in 1892. As originally written, it read “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Bellamy wanted to add “equality” as well, but since the school superintendents were against equality for women and blacks, he didn’t think they’d accept it. “My flag” was changed to “the flag of the United States of America” in 1923, a change which Bellamy opposed. Bellamy died before “under God” was added, but his granddaughter claimed he would have opposed that change as well.