My Certificate Awards
I recieved this award for
this paper I wrote on Constitution Day.
Here are the works cited. I took second place in the contest I entered and got this award.
Amending the Pledge of Allegiance?
Oh what an excellent idea! We cannot possibly have any reference to “God” in our Pledge of Allegiance. Why stop there? Let us also remove the word “God” from every part of our National Heritage and all of our currency. Let us completely forget about our national history and what our nation was founded upon and deface our country. No, the U.S. Constitution should not be amended to guarantee the right to use the word “God” in the Pledge of Allegiance but at the same time it should not “force” the removal of the word from the Pledge of Allegiance either.
The debate on whether to ratify the Constitution has been on going for the past few years. The most recent information was posted on CNN, “U.S. to fight Pledge of Allegiance ruling.” Alberto Gonzales, the U.S. Attorney General, said that the Justice Department will fight to overturn a federal court ruling that the Pledge of Allegiance can not be recited in public schools because it contains a reference to God (Gonzales). Many patriotic Americans are disgusted that any court would ban the reciting of our nation’s Pledge of Allegiance in public schools. Many men and women gave their lives to allow us, as a nation and individuals, the right to choose how we want to live our lives. These hard-won rights include freedom of speech.
When I was growing up, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance was a daily activity at the start of my morning classes. Every morning we would stand up and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. I also remember that if we did not want to recite the Pledge, we did not have to. Freedom of choice is the American way. Not only was this a normal activity, but it also served to remind me of the blood, sweat and tears that were shed by American soldiers. Those brave men and women who served in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and those that are fighting in the current conflicts raging today in the Middle East do so to protect and shelter our nation. The Pledge of Allegiance reminds me of what our nation was founded upon. To think that now children will not be allowed to say the Pledge of Allegiance in school, just because of the word “God,” is absurd.
Does the word “God” violate the Constitution's ban on state-sponsored religion? In many people’s opinion it does not. What is being violated is freedom of speech. Do they want their children going to school never knowing the Pledge of Allegiance or the history behind it? Absolutely not, but many people also do not want to force other people into their way of thinking because it is their opinion, not a general consensus.
We as a nation have become too caught up in debating the removal of the word “God” from our Pledge of Allegiance. It should not be up to state or federal governments to decide what is allowed to be said when reciting the national Pledge of Allegiance. The decision should be to allow the individuals, the parents and children, the right to choose to say the word “God” or even replace it with a word with which they feel comfortable. The state nor federal governments, even the schools themselves should not be allowed to decide for everyone.
In 2002 the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court decided that the provision “under God” was to be considered unconstitutional (Ashcroft). Michael Newdow filed a lawsuit alleging that a school policy requiring teachers to lead students in the Pledge of Allegiance violated his daughter's First Amendment protection against government-sponsored religion because the words "under God" endorse religion. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed with him in a 2-1 opinion issued June 26, 2002. The 9th Circuit covers Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington (Lewis). This lawsuit was the fuel that got the debate running. Many people felt that the word “God” violated the constitutions ban on state-sponsored religion. Parents felt that by saying the word “God” represented a religious intrusion within the public schools.
Just recently the U.S. Senate voted on the California ruling. I applaud the Senate’s recent vote to condemn the district judge’s ruling. Taken from CNN’s “U.S. to fight Pledge of Allegiance ruling,” “The non-binding resolution, approved by unanimous consent, states that the phrase ‘one nation under God’ in the pledge reflects the religious faith central to the founding of the nation and that its recitation is "a fully constitutional expression of patriotism” (Gonzales).
Many people argue that “under God” should be removed from the Pledge since it was added in 1954. It is said that we, as a country, decided to add “under God” because we considered the then Soviet Union a Godless nation (Lewis). That may in part be true, but what is being ignored is the fact that the addition of “under God” ties our Pledge in with our national heritage beliefs our nation was founded upon. There are many other instances where the word “God” is mentioned in our other national songs and throughout our national history. It gets even funnier when you consider this: on every piece of U.S. currency it states, “In God we trust”. Why is it that nobody has a problem accepting or spending our currency, but yet they still in the same breath want to complain about our national Pledge? What about national songs like America the Beautiful with lyrics such as, ‘….America, America, God shed his grace on thee….’?
The Pledge of Allegiance was incorporated into our national schools through the official program of the National Public School Celebration of Columbus Day in October 1892. The original Pledge of Allegiance was as follows: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for all” (FLAGDAY.ORG); since then the wording of the Pledge has been modified three times. In 1923 the Pledge went through its first change. The words “the flag of the United States” were substituted for “my flag.” The new Pledge took on this form: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for all.” (FLAGDAY.ORG) In 1924 the Pledge went through it’s second change, the words “of America” were added. Changing the Pledge once again to: “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.” (FLAGDAY.ORG) On Flag Day in 1954, the words “under God” were added. The new Pledge took on this form: “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States, and to the Republic for which it stands: one nation under God indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for all” (FLAGDAY.ORG). In 1954 when the new changes were approved, President Dwight D. Eisenhower said: "In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource in peace and war"(FLAGDAY.ORG). Never at any point does this suggest that the words “under God” imply a religious belief being forced upon any of us as Americans. What it does state is the changes were made to further tie our National Pledge with our National Heritage.
I, as a citizen and a patriot of the United States, strongly feel that the Pledge of Allegiance should remain as it is, “one nation, under God” and allow the choice of the individual reciting the pledge to decide if they want to recite it or not. However, forcing the nation, as a whole, to remove it is not only a disgrace but also it dishonors all those who gave their lives defending this country to allow us the power of choice. Reciting the Pledge should be a mandatory part of all public school systems in every state, no exceptions. Our nation was not founded upon a religion; our nation was founded upon beliefs, identity and patriotism. If the Pledge of Allegiance is the current target, will defacing our currency, deconstructing our national history and heritage happen next? To think that so many people gave up their lives to give us the right to choose, and this is what we choose to argue about makes me sad. The freedom of choice is not about choosing what anybody or everybody else chooses to do, it is about individual choice. It is time people started understanding what our country is about, what our country was founded on before trying to decide what is best for everybody as a nation. Decide what is best for you first, let everyone else take care of him or herself.