| Little Known Facts in the Pledge of Allegiance / "Under God" Debate: |
- The U.S. Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Socialist and a Baptist minister. It read: "I Pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one nation indivisible, with liberty and Justice for all."
- "My flag" was replaced with "the flag of the United States of America" as a result of the National Flag conferences of 1923 and 1924.
- The Pledge was officially endorsed by the U.S. government in 1942.
- The words "under God" were added to the Pledge on June 14, 1954.
- Before December 1942 reciters saluted the flag in a straight arm salute. This arm motion was eliminated by Congress in its revised Flag Codeduring WWII because of the similarity to the Nazi salute.
- Several religious leaders have criticised the Pledge as demeaning to God.
- Seven of seven national polls from 2002 to 2005 have shown over 65% support for keeping "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.
- From 2001 to 2006 zero U.S. senators publicly supported changing the Pledge of Allegiance.
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http://undergod.procon.org/viewresource.asp?resourceID=65
Some non-biased facts about our flag.
I think that Under God should not be in our flag. In God We Trust should not be on our coin. We are a country of many people and religions. We should respect them by having no religion stated on any of our documents. We should not swear people in on a bible, just have them swear to tell the truth.
Many disagree with me I'm sure. They'll say that our country was founded on God and Christianity. This country was also founded on women, poor and nonwhite people having little or no rights. This country was also founded to escape religious persecution. This country was also founded on the idea that it could grow and change. So I ask you why will we not grow? Why must we state what we are alledgedly founded on. If it is an outdated principal than let's throw it out and become modern.
