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Pledge Of Allegiance Essay

646 Words3 Pages

Patriotism is defined as devoted love, support, and defense of one's country. The purpose of the Pledge of Allegiance is to increase patriotism and unity within our wonderful nation. However, the pledge we know and recite today is not the original; the original, written by Francis Bellamy, read “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.” The words “under God” were not added to the pledge until 1954, 62 years after it was originally written. While the phrase contains only two words, the two words are very powerful. It is not the quantity of words, it is the implicit meaning behind them; the addition of God to the Pledge of Allegiance infringes on the religious …show more content…

The words “under God” endorse religion, and imposing a religious belief onto those who don’t share it contradicts the inalienable right promised by the Bill of Rights. The first amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” While the pledge is not a law, it has been formally adopted by Congress. Some claim that the phrase “under God” is nondenominational as it is a general reference and does not specify a particular “god,” however the phrase does specify that there is only one god, and therefore is not truly all-inclusive. Douglas Laycock, JD, argues that “We can’t have a nation under God unless there is a God. It doesn’t say one nation under our god, or some gods, or one of the gods. It pretty clearly implies there is only one God and if there is only one God, then the God of the Pledge is the one true God, and other alleged gods around the world are false gods” (Laycock). Not only is the Pledge acknowledging religion, it is disregarding the polytheistic and nontheistic religions that exist in our diverse

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I don’t agree that the Pledge of Allegiance violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment because you are not praying to anything or anyone. I would agree that the nondenominational prayer does violate this clause. The reason being is that schools are not allowed to require that there is to be a prayer because it comes down to the separation of church and state. Church is where you can go and pray, as well as practice your religion. The state, however, cannot mandate that there be prayer in school because it is not something that they can do because of the First

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Meaning that while laws cannot interfere with religious belief and opinions, laws can be made to regulate some religious practices. For example, Human sacrifices are a part of some religious rituals, but they cannot be tolerated in the United States.  Chief Justice Waite stated that "If we do not make the Constitution the Supreme Law, and allow each person to make up their mind about what law to obey on religious grounds, we would put religious belief over the Constitution." Meaning this would undermine order and the government would only exist in

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This was said becuase the 1st amendment keeps the government from determining when and how people should worship. The authorization of the law introducing a prayer was opposing what the amendment stands for therefore it was unconstitutional. Many early americans have been troubled in the past by religious enforcements and persecution. The Court declared that the Establishment Clause denies the government in having a say in religious exercises. Justice Hugo Black wrote the majority opinnion stating that the freedom of religion means that is not the government 's buisness tocompose official prayers for any group of American citizens.

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This quote means that it is okay for a president to use religion in his politics and bring a faithful aspect to the table. Separation of church and state is keeping Americans from facing their fears of having a national religion. Americans are religious, even though there are many religions that are practiced throughout the country, we need a president who believes in a God to lead us. Many ask if the government needs religion and honestly yes we do. God has created this beautiful country for us to live on, and the government needs religion to help us

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This type of intolerance would not be part of a new nation and it would be outline in the Bill of Rights (p. 131). Support for separation of church and state, whether it be a physical state, government, crown, or president, was an idea held by the populace; James Madison was even watchful of majorities imposing beliefs on minorities stating “The security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. It consists in the one case of the multiplicity of interests and in other in the multiplicity of sects. The degrees of security in both cases will depend on the number of interests and sects” (p. 132). This would protect religious liberty simply because of the sheer number of different sects, or denominations.

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Constitution. The First Amendment contains two clauses regarding religion’s role in government, the Establishment Clause which prohibits the government from establishing a national religion, and the Free Exercise Clause protects citizens right to practice whichever religion they please (as long it doesn’t violate government laws) (First Amendment). Many do not seem to comprehend that forcing a person to perform a ritual linked to or acknowledge the existence of someone else’s deity is equivalent to hindering their rights to or freedom of religious practices and systems. Children and teenagers have blindly underlined the belief that America is set under a Christian god or, more generally, a deity from a realm of monotheistic religions.

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“Liberty which is essential to its existence, the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests.” One of the many issues is the ability that religion

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The Establishment Clause Thomas Jefferson stated that by passing the First Amendment, Americans had “declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Religion in Public Life Government officials take their oaths of office in the name of God, nation’s coins have carried the motto “In God We Trust”, Pledge of Allegiance includes the phrase “one nation under God”, and public meeting open with prayers. Everson v. Board of Education 1947 case involved a challenge to a New Jersey law allowing the state to pay for busing student to parochial school. County determined that the law benefited students rather than aiding a religion directly. State Aid to Parochial School In Board of Education v. Allen the court upheld state programs that provide secular, or nonreligious textbooks to parochial schools.

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God doesn’t only apply to Christian people only. It goes for everyone, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhism and more. The Pledge means that we all have freedom and rights. The freedom of speech, the freedom of press, freedom of religion

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It does not however say that an individual in office may have no religious beliefs at all. The statements I have put in bold are those I believe can be explained by this, a persons’ personal belief. Though all these statements can be depicted one way or another depending on your own beliefs, my opinion lays that statements like that of the Declaration of Independence mentioning God further more shows that the founding fathers believed and practiced Christianity but just because they did, they were not imposing it on everyone else that would be affected by an official document like the Constitution. The fact that founding fathers quoted the bible again was a personal choice that does not need much more explanation.

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The Pledge of Allegiance was created in 1892 and as seen been the way how most public areas start their day. Now when doing the pledge it is respectful and expected for you to stand in honor of the veterans that have lost their lives for our freedom but some people don’t because of religious beliefs or other factors that are covered by the 1st amendment. In these two articles they show the pros and cons of standing during the pledge and what others think. In the first article, the pro side it states, ”Last year, my final year as a high school teacher before retiring, I had two students who decided to take a knee during the Pledge of Allegiance. I wondered why and framed the question in a way they might not have expected.

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The original had only said “one Nation indivisible” while today's says “One nation, under God, indivisible.” The argumentative topic is that these two short words should not be required to say in the Pledge of Allegiance and that the short passage should go back to being the original.

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960 Words | 4 Pages

But with this said none of these elements to the First Amendment do not go without limitations. This essay will discuss and explore the limitations set upon the First Amendment by the Supreme Court. The first element of the First Amendment is that the government can not have an official religion. For example in the court case Lemon v. Kurtzman the court ruled that under the First Amendment that the state could not fund a non-secular non-public school because it would be equivalent to them sponsoring a religion.

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Gobitis, ruled that students in public school including Jehovahś witness the ones who found the flag salute to be idolatry could be compelled to swear to the pledge. Also in 1943 in West Virginia State Board of Education vs. Barnette ruling a 6 to 3 majority Robert H. Jackson spoke that students are not required to say the pledge. From 2004 to 2014 there has been many court hearings over the words ¨under god¨ Originally meant to quote LIncoln from the gettysburg address however Geoffrey Nunberg criticized the additon to mean ¨god willing¨ and that its use

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In the first amendment the citizens of The united states are Promised a freedom to religion and speech. This touches on a person’s individualism because it shows how people in America have the choice to practice any religion they want. In america there is a wide range of religious backgrounds, nobody is forced to conform to a certain idea or following. The majority of people in america are christians but after that there are still hundreds of different religions that

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