Pledge of Allegiance

Every morning in schools across America, over 60 million students and teachers recite the pledge of Allegiance. In 1951, the Knights of Columbus in New York City felt that the pledge was unfinished without any mention to a god. The Knights got together and decided to try to pass a bill adding the words ‘Under God’ to the Pledge of Allegiance. ‘He said, ‘There was something missing in the pledge, and that which was missing was the characteristic and definitive factor in the American way of life.

‘ Mr. Speaker, I think Mr. Docherty hit the nail square on the head.’ Said Charles Oakman requoting these words from George Macpherson Docherty’s, the minister of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, sermon. 1954 was the year that President Eisenhower signed the bill to pass the words ‘Under god’ into the pledge of allegiance and now, people all throughout the United States recite it every morning.

But there are some people that are getting all getting relied up over the word ‘God’. ‘God’ means so many things through different peoples’ eyes or it can mean nothing at all to them. In 2002, there was a huge controversy with an atheist father that tried to sue the government because of the use of these words in the pledge. The father of a third grader, at the time, did not want his daughter to have to listen to the words ‘under god’ in the oath. The father told the court that the words violated the rights of the first amendment.

The courts revised this decision and over-ruled the California courts leaving the words ‘under god’ in the vow for now. I think that the parents of students have the right to decide whether or not their child will say the oath but on the other hand I do not think that the parents should go against other people’s thoughts of the oath because of their own beliefs. Students all over the U.S. don’t recite the vow based of their beliefs but they do stand up in a sign of respect to others around them.

During the Cold War, the words, ‘under god’, we’re added to the pledge to separate the United States from the ‘godless communists’. Now that it is a different time and the world is very different now the words mean so many things to different people. The words were only added at the time because it was what everyone believed what was right. Everything has changed since then but it was still a valuable part of history and should be kept in the pledge. This does not mean you have to recite it but only meant that it stays a part of history for the next generations to come.