Pledge of Allegiance minus "under God."

Call me Kreskin, but I think that we are going to get a huge backlash from Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson over this one. I have always been kinda nebulous about the "under God" portion of our pledge and about religion in schools to begin with. As we have become a far more global community within our country, we have to respect the beliefs of those that do not worship the same religions to which we have become accustomed. How many mosques were in the United States when the "under God" portion of the pledge was added in the 1950s? How many Buddhist or Hindu temples were in the United States? No, we are not taking God out of the US or disrespecting the rights of Christians. We are recognizing that not everyone worships the same way (or at all).

Of course we can all say that she has the right not to say the pledge. But what will this do? Force her to stand there and watch as others do it and feel that she is an outsider because she is the only one not saying the pledge of allegiance? We can't force her to change school because how many schools do NOT say the pledge of allegiance?

There are those that are trying to put prayer back into school and I have to commend them for their efforts. However, it is nearly impossible to put prayer back in school as our multicultural community denies the ability to have a level playing field in regards to formulating a prayer that is acceptabe to all. But, then there are the athiest, agnostics, and pagans to contend with as well. I respect the moment of silence that most schools have incorporated as it allows the student to do what they want -- pray, stand there like an idiot, meditate, whatever. The power is in their hands.

To be honest, I am really suprised it too this long before it was declared unconstitutional. And for the record...I believe atheism to be a religion. Religions have tenets of belief. Their tenet is that there is no God (amongst other things....).

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Oh there's a new episode of (646) Guy up as well...