I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Ever since 1954, the Pledge of Allegiance has been written with the words “under God”. For the past several years, people have been trying to take these words out of our nation’s pledge. In the year 2002, “A federal appeals court here declared today that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional because the phrase ‘one nation under God’ violates the separation of church and state” (Nieves). A country used to be a Christian nation, but now that more people have immigrated here, it has changed. Multiple schools have banned their students from saying our patriotic pledge. For example, one principal,  Pat Jones, banned the students of Alliance High School in Nebraska from reciting the pledge without the school board knowing about it. Many parents were amazed and outraged that the principal would do this, especially without the school board knowing. This debate has been going on for the past ten years and, still, has not been resolved.

I believe that the full pledge should still be recited in schools and at other public events. ”’We will soon find ourselves prohibited from using our album of patriotic songs in many public settings,’ wrote Judge Fernandez, 63, who was appointed in 1980 by President Bush’s father” (Nieves). Once the pledge is taken away, so will everything patriotic and having to do with God the country has to offer. America used to be a country built on it’s faith in Christ Jesus. Now that more immigrants are coming into America that are not Christian,  they expect the country to change it’s ways because of their religion. They are welcomed into the country and have much more freedom than in other countries. I don’t believe they should respond to this by asking the country to change it’s national pledge. I know that other people who are not immigrants want to change the pledge, but that is usually because they know others don’t believe in God. Our nation was built on the foundation of the bible and I don’t think that our nation’s history and artifacts should be altered. In conclusion, I believe the Pledge of Allegiance should not be banned from schools and should remain exactly the same.

~Calli