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I’ll give it a shot and probably get skewered later. Oh well, here goes.

The Pledge, in my mind, is not an oath. We aren’t swearing. It is the outward demonstration of my loyalty to my nation, as represented by the Stars and Stripes. It even goes beyond that for me, to a point of pledging my allegiance to the idea of what America is supposed to be (the Framers’ ideal).

Bibically, speaking, we are told in Isaiah that “the government shall be upon His shoulder” in the prophecies of Jesus. In the NT, Jesus Himself states that we should “render unto Caesar those things which are Caesar’s, and render unto God, those things that are God’s.”

In the first instance, we are to understand that God sets up governments for His own reasons and we should show respect to those governments until they act in a way contrary to His Word. This is why we demonstrate our loyalty with the Pledge.

Secondly, we live here, we benefit from our citizenship, we have more opportunity than most of the world. Isn’t saying the Pledge simply “rendering unto Caesar”? We benefit; ergo, we show our loyalty.

Finally, I would submit that as long as we state, “one nation, under God”, we are showing the proper respect for God. It’s when we fail to do that and put our citizenship or our nation ahead of our Christianity that we get into trouble.

Just my two cents.

Thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my post. I see absolutely nothing "flamable" in what you wrote, so hopefully you won't be attacked or anything. I actually thought I would take flak, but so far so good.

When I was a little boy in grade three, a new kid moved in who was being raised as a Jehovah's Witness. Nobody had any idea what that religion was about, all we knew was that he was "allowed" to not say the pledge. We all liked him, and he took zero teasing about it... it was just the way it was, but I always questioned why exactly his religion made him not say the Pledge.

I consider myself a patriot, and thus, I believe that our freedoms are not bestowed upon us by a government comprised of men ruling over other men, but that our rights are ordained by God, Himself. As patriotic as I may consider myself, part of me has always taken reservation regarding taking an oath of allegiance to the Flag and the Republic of a government of men. I guess a similar thing is my trepidation regarding Freemasonry and oaths involved in becoming a Free and Accepted Mason.

Your comments help me understand one way to look at it.

Thanks!