[mhking]

Furthermore, this pledge is NOT just a pledge to the flag and to the republic, as you assert, but also, as it currently stands, to an unknown entity that not everyone believes exists, nor does every parent want their children indoctrinated in such a belief.

That is incorrect - contrary to popular belief, the pledge is not a pledge to God. The phrase "under God" is a phrase that describes the nation.

This is not an issue of indoctrination. This is a matter of an individual exerting his will on the 95% of the individuals in this country who not only believe in the existance of God in some form, but those same persons who believe that God or some other higher being is responsible for our being here.

You cannot penalize 95% of Americans because one father and two judges are mind-numbed idiots...

[Tired of Taxes]

"contrary to popular belief, the pledge is not a pledge to God. The phrase "under God" is a phrase that describes the nation. "

By saying "one nation, under God", the pledge is asserting that there is a "god" and that our nation is under it. I don't see much difference between a pledge to "God" or a pledge to "one nation, under God."

"You cannot penalize 95% of Americans because one father and two judges are mind-numbed idiots... "

This is not supposed to be a majority-rule nation. If 95% of the people wanted all firearms confiscated, should the gov't do so? No, because we have a Second Amendment right. Again, it would be just as wrong for a public schoolteacher to tell students that there is no god, or that religion is bad, and so on. Unfortunately, with school and state mixed together, we will continue to encounter these problems.

[E Rocc]

That is incorrect - contrary to popular belief, the pledge is not a pledge to God. The phrase "under God" is a phrase that describes the nation.

Describing the nation as being subordinate to God is very much a religious assertion. If one is pledging allegiance to the Nation, and the Nation is subordinate to God, then.....

-Eric