Pledge of Allegiance
I pledge allegiance to my Flag,
and (to*) the Republic for which it stands:
one Nation indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all.
By: Mr. Francis Bellamy of Rome, New York
Columbus Day October 1892
When I asked my students to read the Pledge of Allegiance last night in class, they all looked at my quizically. After all, what I had on screen was not the Pledge - or so they thought.
What they had not known until last night was that the original Pledge has been modified 3 times.
Last week we had a lesson on separation of Church and State (and the First Amendment). I was hoping to generate some class discussion using an example that they could relate to. This lesson worked better than I could have imagined. They were energenic, active, and seemed to enjoy class.
Many were surprised to discover that the words "under God" had been added to the Pledge only in the 1950s. Many felt the pledge should remain untouched, some were unsure if it should change (including one student who is Hindu and mentioned that he has 12 Gods). One felt it should change.
On inventive student thought we should make God lower case (i.e, under god), thereby generalizing the word. Nobody had a good answer for the Aethists.
Teaching can be fun!
4 comments:
WOW - I never knew that! And honestly, this is very fascinating. Knowing now that the words Under God were not added until the 1950s makes me less inclined to support keeping it in!
How fun!
I knew that! NOT! :)
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
In response, I know that I basically gave the gov't a no interest loan, but being that we needed the windfall now, I will allow them that one thing. :)
Cool...who knew?
Personally, and I'm about the furthest thing from a religious fanatic (read: enters churches only for weddings), I like the "under God" part (it reminds me of grade school and paste...). The student's ides about the lower-case of "God" sounds like a viable option though!
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