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July 2nd, 2002
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Editorial: The Pledge Of Reason |
Pledge of Allegiance Ban Hurts Our Most Precious Values: Obedience and Conformity
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A few days ago, a Federal court in California ruled that the "under God" clause of our country's Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional. Meaning that public schools, being funded by the state, cannot lead students in an organized recitation of the Pledge.
Ostensibly, the court's justification for this ruling was the principle of the separation of church and state. In reality, however, the court dealt a devastating blow to values that are even more dear to our hearts: obedience and conformity.
It's clear that the judges failed to fully consider the consequences of their decision. Without unifying rituals like the Pledge of Allegiance, how can we hope to teach our children to be mindless automatons? How can we ever fulfill our national dream of a perfect Orwellian society?
When I was a kid, going to a Catholic school, we all said the Pledge of Allegiance together every day. We also recited the Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary to show our devotion to God and to the Blessed Virgin. And you know what? It worked. I grew up loving my God and my country, just like everybody else.
It was true then, and it's true now: there's no better way to teach patriotism than through rote, joyless repetition. By saying the same words monotonously every day for years on end, the ideas eventually seep into your head, becoming part of your everyday psychology, whether you want them to or not. It makes your thoughts clear, clean and focused. I like to think of it as "brain cleansing."
Our country's lawmakers set a great example in response to the ruling. The day the decision was handed down, the members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives gathered on the Capitol steps to recite the Pledge in unison. This act of leadership gave the nation a desperately-needed example of ideal, herd-like patriotic behavior. By doing this in front of the news media's television cameras, they also showed us all the importance of image, appearances and showmanship.
Without the Pledge of Allegiance, our schools will be forced to resort to uncertain alternative methods of instilling patriotism. Students may end up studying the Constitution or debating each other on how to interpret the Bill of Rights. If you try that, who knows what they'll wind up believing? Are we really willing to risk corrupting the minds of our children to the chaos and uncertainty of open discussion? Or do we give them the same gift that we ourselves received - a systematic recitation of a canned vow of patriotism?
The California ruling is a direct attack on the values closest to our hearts: loyalty. Banality. Conformity. To paraphrase a great patriot, Patrick Henry: Give me shallow platitudes, or give me death!
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