Allegiance

George H.W. Bush, as Presidential Nominee for the Republican party; 1987-AUG-27: "No, I don't know that Atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God."

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History of the Pledge of Allegiance:

Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931), a Baptist minister, wrote the original Pledge in August 1892. He was a Christian Socialist. He had been pressured into leaving his church in 1891 because of his socialist sermons. In his retirement in Florida, he stopped attending church because he disliked the racial bigotry he found there. The original Bellamy's version of the pledge was:

	I pledge allegiance to my flag, and to the republic for which it stands:
	one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

In 1923 and 1924 the National Flag Conference, under the leadership of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, changed the Pledge's words, 'my Flag' to 'the Flag of the United States of America'. Bellamy disliked this change, but his protest was ignored.

It was recently, in 1954, that the US Congress -after an insistent campaign by the Knights of Columbus (www.kofc.org)- added the words, 'under God' to the Pledge. The Pledge thus became, both a patriotic oath and a public prayer. Bellamy's granddaughter said he also would have resented this second change, as well.

Who are the Knights of Columbus? They are a bunch of self-righteous individuals, and sub-organizations, who would love to impose their beliefs and doctrines in all of us. Only if they could. On the paragraph that follows I pasted their "faith" as expressed on their website. It reads:

Since its founding, the Knights of Columbus has been in solidarity with the Catholic Church, the Holy Father and the bishops, priests and religious. It is in the thousands of Catholic parishes that the good works of the Knights of Columbus are most manifest. Support for the Catholic Church is a hallmark of Knights of Columbus activity at all levels of the organization. In 1999, the Knights collectively raised and distributed more than $45 million to Church groups and in support of programs at the international, national and local levels. More than 25 million hours of time were donated to the Church by local Knights and families in 1999.

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The standard Pledge now reads:

	I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands:
	a nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

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In Spanish would be:

	"Prometo lealtad a la bandera de los Estados Unidos de America, y a la República que representa:
	una Nación bajo Dios, indivisible, con libertad y justicia para todos."

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I propose several changes to the pledge, based on:

1) The term "Republic" (from the Latin "res publica" ["cosa pública" in Spanish] meaning "government by all") it has degenerated its meaning somewhat. Egypt, China, Congo, Chad, Nigeria, ... are also "republics", but their governments are not democracies, and we do not envy them. What we stand for is the Democracy that our system of government represents. Hence, I suggest changing Republic for Democracy.

2) As per explanation on previous pages, I think it is time for the word Equality to be added.

3) In 1954 a patriotic oath was converted into a prayer, by adding UNDER GOD. This was due to the strong lobbying of the conservative religious right (including the Knights of Columbus). This addition is unfair to several millions of us, and does not stand the "equality test". It has to be deleted!

4) Today we refer to our flag as the American flag. It is impractical and redundant to have to say "the flag of the United States of America".

Therefore the version I am suggesting is:

	I Pledge Allegiance to the American flag, and to the Democracy for which it stands:
	an indivisible nation, with equality, liberty and justice for all.

	Prometo Lealtad a la bandera Americana, y a la Democracia que representa:
	una Nación indivisible, con igualdad, libertad y justicia para todos.

Some pro-life advocates recite a slightly revised Pledge where at the end (after justice for all) they add born and unborn. I do not agree with this addition for all of us to recite. Because of its religious connotations. Again, this change would not pass the "equality" test. However, I would not oppose that those people -who are concerned with that issue- would say it like that.

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