Ask Auntie Pinko
July 11, 2002

Dear Auntie Pinko,

What is wrong with the pledge of allegiance? Does anyone seriously think that the words "under God" actually mean anything? Why should we attack schools for helping children express patriotism just because a very very small minority are offended by a meaningless reference to an unspecified deity?

Camilla,
Mt. Pleasant, MI

 
Dear Camilla,

Saying the pledge is only one of many ways to express patriotism. Your question brings up an interesting point. If the words "under God" are meaningless, why do any of the other words in the pledge mean anything? They, too, are repeated by rote, again and again, without any real focus on what they actually say.

Indeed, it often seems as though the only ones who really think about all the words of the pledge are those who feel it is an inappropriate expression of their patriotism, usually-and this may surprise you-on religious grounds. In fact, that whole first phrase, "I pledge allegiance to the flag" is a real stumbling block for some of those who take the Ten Commandments of Judeo-Christian tradition seriously. It comes uncomfortably close, to them, to worshipping a graven image.

What, after all, is "allegiance," and what does it mean in this context? Is it appropriate to pledge "allegiance" to a piece of cloth? Or even to "the Republic, for which it stands?" There are many patriotic Americans who believe that it is the Constitution, and the principles of liberty enshrined therein, which evoke allegiance, not merely a political entity called a "Republic."

Think about all the countries with "Republic" in their names-from the People's Republic of China, to the Central African Republic, they apparently feel comfortable using the term "Republic" to describe themselves. To Auntie Pinko, "Republic" is an inadequate word to evoke the kind of fierce loyalty I feel for America, in spite of all her faults and failings.

This may seem like mere quibbling, Camilla, but what it means is this: Either words matter, deeply, in which case it is a fundamentally important issue whether the words "under God" are included in the pledge; or they do not matter at all, in which case, why bother with the pledge at all? Why not come up with some more meaningful way for America's schoolchildren to express their patriotism? Why all the shouting and indignation and fury over the issue?

Auntie Pinko doesn't pledge allegiance to a symbol, nor yet to a Republic. I pray every day for Divine guidance and mercy for America and our leaders, but my personal belief in a Divine providence is not something I would impose upon others. My love and loyalty to my country is not founded upon the mere fact of its existence. It does not depend upon the fact that America provides me with a comfortable home, or with economic prosperity, although I value these things highly.

The reason Auntie Pinko is a loyal American is enshrined in a document written more than two hundred years ago, in which humans first expressed the ideal that the purpose of a country is to protect the rights of all its people, and to provide all its people with an equal opportunity to influence their own political, social, and economic destiny. A document in which they proposed a blueprint for a polity that might be able to bring this ideal closer to reality than humanity had yet achieved.

I wasn't terribly fond of the pledge before the words "under God" were added, during the height of an era when Americans abused the powers of their government to persecute each other out of a hysterical fear of something they labeled "Godless Communism." If I wanted to promote patriotic sentiment among America's youth, I could think of better ways to do so than to have them mumble through a rote litany about symbols. Instead, I would focus on the words "with liberty and justice for all," and take a small amount of time, each day, for students to explore the meaning of that concept, and the progress our nation has made toward realizing it.

Thank you for asking Auntie Pinko!

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