remove phrases "Under God," "In God We Trust"
Why do we bother including the phrase "Under God" in our pledge of allegiance, and "In God We Trust" to our money? We added these phrases during the Cold War only to further distance ourselves from the godless communists, during a time when more than half of those calling themselves Christians were unable to name one of the four Gospels.
It seems to me a rather hypocritical thing to do, and to continue to do -- now, to add injury to insult, there are those deeply conservative people who actually believe these things about our country, that as a whole, USA trusts in God.
Come on. We don't even allow the Ten Commandments in our Courthouses -- and for good reason: A good government remains religiously neutral, allowing its citizens to do as they wish, as it is not the place of an earthly system to govern spiritual affairs, any more than a schoolteacher has the responsibility to buy students groceries.
It seems rather evident that we are NOT a country under God; just think off the top of your head, all the Christian ideals already defenestrated ... Go heavily in debt to finance death overseas? Check. Allow the murder of millions of humans every year within our own country? Check. Allow millions of humans worldwide to die of starvation while each American consumes, on average, ten times more resources than the average person worldwide? Check. Ravish the country side and condemn hundreds of millions of animals to a life of suffering, as well as ensure the extinction of an incredible array, both in distinction and number -- after God put us here to be stewards over the earth? Check. I could go on.
It seems clearly to be a case of sinful hypocrisy, to allow our country to flaunt the phrase "Under God", while simultaneously flouting God. The phrase "put up or shut up" comes to mind. Even if we were to disregard the (necessary) separation of church and state, do you think politicians would suddenly enact Christian ideals? The system is so deeply entrenched in personal advancement; the ideas of serving God, and serving your country, seem to be dying.
Just a few thoughts that my history homework sparked... I really don't even believe we should be pledging allegiance to America. After all, let's say America turned into the next Nazi Germany. Oops -- you've taken an oath to support it. Both to make the pledge and to turn away from it go against Jesus: "Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no, and do not swear to anything," for that is what pagans do, I think the next part goes ...
(Also, the idea of a country is ridiculous in itself, let alone pledging allegiance to one; God did not make this part of the earth for me and this part of the earth for you. I've spoken about this before, though.)
It seems to me a rather hypocritical thing to do, and to continue to do -- now, to add injury to insult, there are those deeply conservative people who actually believe these things about our country, that as a whole, USA trusts in God.
Come on. We don't even allow the Ten Commandments in our Courthouses -- and for good reason: A good government remains religiously neutral, allowing its citizens to do as they wish, as it is not the place of an earthly system to govern spiritual affairs, any more than a schoolteacher has the responsibility to buy students groceries.
It seems rather evident that we are NOT a country under God; just think off the top of your head, all the Christian ideals already defenestrated ... Go heavily in debt to finance death overseas? Check. Allow the murder of millions of humans every year within our own country? Check. Allow millions of humans worldwide to die of starvation while each American consumes, on average, ten times more resources than the average person worldwide? Check. Ravish the country side and condemn hundreds of millions of animals to a life of suffering, as well as ensure the extinction of an incredible array, both in distinction and number -- after God put us here to be stewards over the earth? Check. I could go on.
It seems clearly to be a case of sinful hypocrisy, to allow our country to flaunt the phrase "Under God", while simultaneously flouting God. The phrase "put up or shut up" comes to mind. Even if we were to disregard the (necessary) separation of church and state, do you think politicians would suddenly enact Christian ideals? The system is so deeply entrenched in personal advancement; the ideas of serving God, and serving your country, seem to be dying.
Just a few thoughts that my history homework sparked... I really don't even believe we should be pledging allegiance to America. After all, let's say America turned into the next Nazi Germany. Oops -- you've taken an oath to support it. Both to make the pledge and to turn away from it go against Jesus: "Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no, and do not swear to anything," for that is what pagans do, I think the next part goes ...
(Also, the idea of a country is ridiculous in itself, let alone pledging allegiance to one; God did not make this part of the earth for me and this part of the earth for you. I've spoken about this before, though.)