Though the essay was overall decently written, I believe you could have stressed the points of the first amendment more. The pledge is merely a nationalist propaganda device - the words "under God" make it more so and were even admitted as a tool to separate American society from pseudo-communist societies. The pledge isn't American chiefly because it breaks the first amendment, but it also indoctrinates the young. Of course, when people like Newdow argue against the validity of the pledge and claim that it should be divorced from the school atmosphere, rightists deem him un-American.

You can't separate church and state "under god"; you can't have secular sovereignty when you allot your trust in a dubious figure of a god ("in god we trust"). Theology is one of the decisive factors that is aiming, in the name of the US, to abridge the rights of Americans. Not only is the pledge stupid, but - like the state - ultimately regressive.

- Holocaustpulp

I actually did not like this. I am a very proud American. America was founded on the basis of religion. We all have the same God, unless you are an atheist. I think that we should pledge alligance to our country. I think that no matter what country you are from, you should have much pride in your country. Also, I am going to join the American Navy, so I am very patriotic and believe that the Pledge of Alligance should be said.

~*Toni*~

well, the American Civil Liberties Union is not something I'd classify as a valid source, but I'm one of those rare atheist republicans, so I'm not going to say anything.

I'm pretty sure my I.Q. just dropped about 20 points. Your essays (all of them) arent long enough, and they say nothing that hasnt already been said. You're in ninth grade, your writing should flow better, and it should be more interesting.

I'm pretty sure my I.Q. just dropped about 20 points. Your essays (all of them) arent long enough, and they say nothing that hasnt already been said. You're in ninth grade, your writing should flow better, and it should be more interesting.

"Under God" is like a ride at an amusement park. Some people want to go on the ride, but other people dont. The people who dont like the ride anyway wont go on it, but they want the ride torn down anyway, just because its something they dont like, leaving the people who do want to use it out in the cold.

really, i don't see the point in the pledge. and once a friend of mine DID get in trouble for refusing to stand up during the pledge. Sent to the office--nothing happened to him though.
anyways, I agree.

The Pledge of Allegiance: Of the commies, by the commies, and for the commies.

If you hate "under God" so much, why dont you just not say it? Let's dismantle the whole pledge because someone's offended. like ezra said, if we took out under God because some people dont believe, we might eventually removed "indivisible" because some people think the country is divisible.
My father's fourth grade teacher made his class write a letter to congress to change the National Anthem, because she found it offensive that the song talks about war.
And Stale Pop Tart: I'm a proud New Yorker and yankees fan. First of all, that song the old lady was singing was "God Bless America", not the National Anthem. And what the hell is this about them forcing their beliefs on you? You went into Yankee Stadium, on American soil and they played a song about America. Dont like it, leave the damn stadium and the country while you're at it if you dont like what it stands for.
The Yankees have every right to play God Bless America. Why? It's not part of the government you **. It's a baseball team.
And the "stupid" National Anthem? Hardly. That song was written while America (at the time a country of farmers and pitchforks)kicked British **. Are you jealous or something that America's the best place on earth? Seriously, we have the most freedoms, and some idiots like Anarchy still manage to complain about how much it sucks. Stale-Pop-Tart, you have, what i call "National Dick Envy".

Yes, I totally agree. When I went to a baseball game in New York, they forced me to stand while some opera woman sang that stupid national anthem. WTF was with that? Honestly, Americans need to ** off and stop forcing their views on others.

It's a waste of time, but not a complete waste of time. For instance, when I lived in California, we didn't say the pledge of allegiance, and nobody cared. How ever, we did do it once-on the anniversary of September 11th. So it can be patriotic, but only sometimes. Like you said, most kids don't understand the pledge. If you want to make something special, save it for a special occaison.

Try to avoid opinionated statements, like "I don't think". To be truthful, I don't care what you think. So, you should make it sound like your opinion is the law of the land. On top of that, contractions undermine your work. And try not to command with "you don't... you don't..." Avoid "you" all together, use "people" or "one". It makes everything you write a lot more dignified. Besides that, I disagree. If it had been better stated, I may have seen it your way.

You talk a lot of sense! Good knowledge of the history of the pledge too. Sorry if this seems uncritical, but I agree with pretty much all you said. Maybe you should have explained *why* it's so pointles a bit more, and why exactly it's against seperation of church and state. Particularily the last one, I know people who can argue for a LONG time that it isn't, so you need to expand.

Oh yes, the pledge of allegiance is yet another device by the American Government to brainwash our youth and condition them into the next generation of super-soldiers enforcing democracy and peace in every corner of the world. It's a conspiracy, I tells ya.

"They were added to distance Americans from those "horrible" Godless Communists."
Maybe because it's 2 AM i'm a little out of it, but did you just say that the communists weren't horrible? The quotations make it look like that. If killing people because they wouldnt convert to atheism ISNT evil, i dont want to know what evil is.