Pledge Revision Argument Summary \"Why the Pledge

Pledge Revision

Argument Summary

"Why the Pledge of Allegiance Should be Revised" - by: Gwen Wilde

In this article makes an appeal to attack on of America's pledge of allegiance which is generally recited by looking at an American flag while holding the right hand over the hart. On one hand the pledge is deeply engrained into the culture of the United States. However, on the other hand, the wording contained in the pledge does not necessarily represent all residents within the country. The argument is that the pledge is too specific in its terminology, especially regarding religion, and therefore alienates many citizens; literally millions. Though this segment of the population may in fact represent a small minority, they still have the rights embedded into the Constitution which include freedom of religion.

Even though the language does not indicate any specific god, the reference to God could represent any one of the monotheistic religions. However, many Eastern religions have multiple gods in their system of beliefs. Therefore, this expression would not be relevant to any one of the millions of immigrants who immigrated with beliefs in something other than a monotheistic religion. Furthermore, there are also a growing number of people who do not believe in any supernatural entities at all; including gods, ghosts, fairies, etc. Many people in these groups identify with terms such as atheist, agnostic, non-theist, etc. It is this group that the author bases their argument around.

The central argument in the paper really revolves around what rights these individuals are entitled to; the rights of a minority. In most constitutions in democracies around the world there is usually some kind of bill of rights. These rights represent the basic rights that all citizens are entitled for their inclusion in the society. Some have referred to this as protection from the tyranny of the majority. For example, although the United States has been predominately a Christian nation since its forming, it makes many provisions protecting it against ever becoming a theocracy of any kind; there is a separation between church and state. However, there are many items that are currently in use that blur these lines, i.e. money and the pledge of allegiance among others. For a long time those who did not have any particular faith remained relatively quiet about these items. However, they are beginning to express their voices in growing numbers. The question will become a balance between upholding these individual's rights as well as maintaining the cultural aspects of some of the religious references.