Quote:
Originally posted by russotto
The requirement to <strike>take the loyalty oath</strike>recite the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional enough without the "under God". That just makes it even more blatantly so.
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I agree with this, which is why I voted for "no opinion"... I don't know how much difference it makes.
Mind you, I consider myself very patriotic, and when I think about Things That Made This Country Great(tm), coerced reverence for symbols of the country (symbols, even, not the substance) is not on the list.
I also consider myself a Christian, and I dislike anything that smacks of state involvement in religion. Not only is the espousal of Christian and quasi-Christian ideas by the state an infringment of the rights of those who hold non-majority religious beliefs, I also believe it ultimately insults and trivializes Christian teachings(among which, found in the Bible, are that you should render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's, and that religious observance should be private and humble, not public and extravagant).
Martin Luther said it better than I can. I invite you to read his Large Catechism, specifically
the commentary on the First Commandment, and then consider if what he describes as idolatry doesn't sound an awful lot like some of the pro-flag rhetoric we've heard in the last day or so.