School Nurse Refused to Treat Student Who Didn't Stand for Pledge of Allegiance

[Robert]

So they've introduced god when he wasn't there before. I can see why the atheists are upset. I mean, take a court of law : when I did jury service, I affirmed. I had that option.

[GUT]

You know what has always sort of blown my mind of this issue? You have to take the oath of allegiance to become an American once. Just once. If you were to take an oath of fealty to a Lord, you do that once. Hell even if you convert to Judaism you only have to say it once. And I'm told the same holds true for most other religions that allow conversion.

So why the hell are we pledging allegiance primarily to an inanimate object and secondarily to the country itself, and thirdly "to the Republic for it stands" whatever that means (because it's pretty nonsensical) every damn day of our lives? Do they think we didn't mean it the first 10 times, 800 times, 41,263 times? At what point does society accept the fact that we mean it? That we are generally loyal to this country. White protestants apparently don't get looked at funny on this, but the rest of us do. And it's a bitch move. Because now the pledge isn't a pledge. It's a societal test. Where the consequences of failure tend to be violent. It's a ******* flag. It's not magic. Nor is the pledge. We have no choice but to assume basic loyalty, and no pledge is going to bind someone to that loyalty if they choose otherwise.

That's always puzzled me too, why every day??

I had to take an oath or affirmation when i became a Barrister, another to sit as a Part Time Judge, I don't have to take the thing every day or even every tme I start a period sittiing.

[Errata]

My teacher once told us that it's the great White Male and Christian test. In that the only people who could possibly pledge to the flag day in and day out without a single wavering doubt are White, Male, and Christian. And certainly that has been the makeup of the people whose jaws have dropped when they find out I've never done it. I learned it in Chorus in second grade, and it was in an 8th grade history book, but otherwise, never have I ever.

[Robert]

We never had any oath of allegiance when I was at school, not even during the World Cup of 1966.

[Pcdunn]

As it was an atheist group who complained, does that mean that the student was asked to take the oath, rather than an affirmation?

Atheists have objected to the Pledge of Allegiance because of the phrase "one nation, under God," occurring near the end of the Pledge. They say they don't believe in God, and don't want their children saying the word.

I can remember attending a small country school in the late Sixties for the eighth grade. We always gathered in the morning outside (weather allowing) for the flag-raising and the Pledge of Allegiance. It was a bit quaint, I suppose, but rather reassuring too. I just considered it the pledge, not a prayer or an oath.

[GUT]

It's funny, My brother is a staunch atheist, and we were out one night at a local cigar shop (yes we are those disgusting cigar smokers) and the topic of religion came up, and when he was asked his views he let it be known that he was an atheist and that he has no problem with others being believers, but just don’t try to convert him….and one person there actually said to him… “so, you’re an Atheist…so that means you hate America and you hate freedom”, we just looked at each other confused and the person went on to explain “America is a Christian nation, and if you are not a Christian then you hate America and you hate freedom” … now this is what scares me…there are people out there who truly believe this, it really makes you wonder, they talk about “freedom” but do they even understand what that word means???

Steadmund Brand

I doubt it.

[Pcdunn]

History of the pledge of allegiance

You know what has always sort of blown my mind of this issue? You have to take the oath of allegiance to become an American once. Just once. If you were to take an oath of fealty to a Lord, you do that once. Hell even if you convert to Judaism you only have to say it once. And I'm told the same holds true for most other religions that allow conversion.

So why the hell are we pledging allegiance primarily to an inanimate object and secondarily to the country itself, and thirdly "to the Republic for it stands" whatever that means (because it's pretty nonsensical) every damn day of our lives? Do they think we didn't mean it the first 10 times, 800 times, 41,263 times? At what point does society accept the fact that we mean it? That we are generally loyal to this country. White protestants apparently don't get looked at funny on this, but the rest of us do. And it's a bitch move. Because now the pledge isn't a pledge. It's a societal test. Where the consequences of failure tend to be violent. It's a ******* flag. It's not magic. Nor is the pledge. We have no choice but to assume basic loyalty, and no pledge is going to bind someone to that loyalty if they choose otherwise.

I've read that the Pledge of Allegiance dates back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when many more immigrants were arriving from Europe and other countries with their own languages and flags. The children of all these immigrants were coming to the large public schools in the cities. What could be done to unite everyone as citizens of the United States?

A poem appeared in a magazine for children which was titled "My Flag" and contained many of the phrases seen in today's Pledge of Alliegiance, but it began with "I pledge allegiance to my flag..." It was popular, and soon caught on as a ritual in classrooms, but eventually the opening was changed to "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States...", in order to distinguish to the immigrant children that this was now their flag, not that of their former homelands.

I think the change about adding the phrase "under God" (surely offensive now to non-believers and other believers) did come in the 1950s and was likely intended to remind us that-- unlike the "godless Communists" over in the Soviet Union-- we Americans believed in God.
Funny, how our national history can be revealed in our cultural productions, isn't it?

[GUT]

According to Britanica "Under God" was added in '54

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/464536/Pledge-of-Allegiance-to-the-Flag-of-the-United-States-of-America

[Robert]

I think the change about adding the phrase "under God" (surely offensive now to non-believers and other believers) did come in the 1950s and was likely intended to remind us that-- unlike the "godless Communists" over in the Soviet Union-- we Americans believed in God.

I think there's probably a lot in that. Hence also the association of Christianity with freedom.

In 16th and 17th century England, Catholics were suspected of being sympathetic to Spain and France, our main enemies at the time.

[YankeeSergeant]

Actually there are religious groups I believe the Society of Friend (Quakers) do not swear oaths as they believe it would be an affront to God if you gave the wrong information or failed for some reason to carry out what you swore to do. The phrase "Under God was actually added to the Pledge of Allegiance in the early 1950 during the McCarthy era. Apparently, Some "rocket Scientist" had the brilliant idea of adding those words in order to smoke out closet commies who supposedly would not say the name of God because they were Athiests.

[GUT]

Actually there are religious groups I believe the Society of Friend (Quakers) do not swear oaths as they believe it would be an affront to God if you gave the wrong information or failed for some reason to carry out what you swore to do. The phrase "Under God was actually added to the Pledge of Allegiance in the early 1950 during the McCarthy era. Apparently, Some "rocket Scientist" had the brilliant idea of adding those words in order to smoke out closet commies who supposedly would not say the name of God because they were Athiests.

The Bible says

"Swear not under either heaven or earth, but let your yay be yay and your nay. nay"

[Magpie]

When the nurse prevented the student from calling her mother, she committed false imprisonment