Zeig Heil Little Flag
I read up on the recent decision of Judge Lawrence Karlton which affirmed the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance as unconstitutional. I am happy to mark one down for my 'team'.
I happen to be one of the people who gets riled up about the 'under god' portion of the pledge or the 'only one god' part of the ten commandments. I don't believe in god. Thus, any reference to god makes my skin crawl a little. It also means there is no way to incorporate religion into something that would make me feel any better. However, it is NOT because I have some secret Atheist agenda. I do not think school is the place for anything religious be it the commandments, intelligent design or the pledge. Parents should be responsible for teaching those things in their home or at a church. If someone has a desperate need for religion & education to comingle then they can send their kid to catholic school.
The Ten Commandments:
Why posting the ten commandments is even at question is beyond me. Not only is it religious, but it is blatently christian. So, basically to satisfy one group we should offend everyone who is not a christian? It doesn't seem logical to me when religion could simply be left out of government institutions, state buildings, etc all together. A lack of religion in public places doesn't offend anyone, it just means the religous have to eliminate those places as marketing opportunities. I mean Trojan can't advertise condoms before a certain time of night. So I'm just backing the idea that christians can't advertise in state sanctioned places. No biggie.
The Pledge:
There is a creepy Nazi-esque quality to saying the pledge. I remember standing up everyday in 7th grade geography, facing the flag & rambling off the preordained paragraph. Though years before I became an Atheist I do remember thinking this was silly & pointless. Do we need to have publically sanctioned daily allegiance to prove we are happy to be Americans? Not to mention when you force kids that age to recite things they become oblivious to it. We were 30 sleepy, 12 yr olds in a room with no windows. I promise I was not thinking about the pledge when I recited it. I was all about the cute boy in the second row & who I was going to sit with at lunch. I know I was not thinking "Yay, I'm still a fucking American just like I have been everyday since birth". Plus, wouldn't it be quicker to just have all the kids give one good 'Zeig Heil' & get back to learning something they don't already know?
Intelligent Design: Not even going there. If you buy into that & we need to have a much longer discussion about a little thing I call reality.
The more the religious try to infiltrate the state the more it makes me want to fight back. If the religious right would just get keep their religion to themselves I wouldn't feel the need to antagonize them so much.
Eh, I think I am having a 'why can't we all just get along?' moment & should promptly end this ramble.
I happen to be one of the people who gets riled up about the 'under god' portion of the pledge or the 'only one god' part of the ten commandments. I don't believe in god. Thus, any reference to god makes my skin crawl a little. It also means there is no way to incorporate religion into something that would make me feel any better. However, it is NOT because I have some secret Atheist agenda. I do not think school is the place for anything religious be it the commandments, intelligent design or the pledge. Parents should be responsible for teaching those things in their home or at a church. If someone has a desperate need for religion & education to comingle then they can send their kid to catholic school.
The Ten Commandments:
Why posting the ten commandments is even at question is beyond me. Not only is it religious, but it is blatently christian. So, basically to satisfy one group we should offend everyone who is not a christian? It doesn't seem logical to me when religion could simply be left out of government institutions, state buildings, etc all together. A lack of religion in public places doesn't offend anyone, it just means the religous have to eliminate those places as marketing opportunities. I mean Trojan can't advertise condoms before a certain time of night. So I'm just backing the idea that christians can't advertise in state sanctioned places. No biggie.
The Pledge:
There is a creepy Nazi-esque quality to saying the pledge. I remember standing up everyday in 7th grade geography, facing the flag & rambling off the preordained paragraph. Though years before I became an Atheist I do remember thinking this was silly & pointless. Do we need to have publically sanctioned daily allegiance to prove we are happy to be Americans? Not to mention when you force kids that age to recite things they become oblivious to it. We were 30 sleepy, 12 yr olds in a room with no windows. I promise I was not thinking about the pledge when I recited it. I was all about the cute boy in the second row & who I was going to sit with at lunch. I know I was not thinking "Yay, I'm still a fucking American just like I have been everyday since birth". Plus, wouldn't it be quicker to just have all the kids give one good 'Zeig Heil' & get back to learning something they don't already know?
Intelligent Design: Not even going there. If you buy into that & we need to have a much longer discussion about a little thing I call reality.
The more the religious try to infiltrate the state the more it makes me want to fight back. If the religious right would just get keep their religion to themselves I wouldn't feel the need to antagonize them so much.
Eh, I think I am having a 'why can't we all just get along?' moment & should promptly end this ramble.
posted by Knina at 9:35 PM
6 Comments:
Oh yeah, cuz I hang out a the good ol' fatinspanish blog all the time.
:P
Btw, I voted for you so don't be such a piggy to me.
KP
hmmm.. my father has pictures of his mother attending school in the 1920's and 30's where they saluted the American flag by raising their right arm palm down toward the flag as they pledged. Sound familiar? Zeig Heil, indeed.
Chronic...I bet you could if you had not had to write that post about 'every other boring blog' - Though I noticed as soon as you made fun of them, those same ppl started voting for you...Go figure. Two cheers for the dumb masses.
Good rant. I know how you feel. It's hard to understand why people think separation of church and state is a bad idea.
The 502
"I'm just backing the idea that christians can't advertise in state sanctioned places."
I think advertise is the operative word. It's all a marketing scheme.. and a very effective one. "I know you've done some fucked up shit, but come hang out with us once a week and everything will be all better."
I love your post. It just shows my theory that the neo-conservatist are trying to turn the US into a Facist Theocracy.
Hope to see you in Canada.