To me, "in God We Trust" should not be on our currency because it wasn't originally on our currency at all until the 1890s, and then was added to even more of our currency by the time the McCarthy era came around, when everyone was fearful of communism.

To me, "under God" should never have been added to the Pledge of Allegiance. It's not appropriate to make people associate with a religion. But then again, I don't really believe we should have a pledge of allegiance--not one that we force kids to memorize anyway.

I don't really care if we have it or not really. It's not an issue for me. I can't see what harm it does.

If we get rid of the Pledge of Allegiance, why not get rid of the whole thing? National Anthem, The Flag, etc.
At what point do we stop being offended by all this stuff?

The flag is one thing. That's purely a symbol. Making kids memorize something and say it over and over again, every day, is something completely different.

It's not different to me. It mentions god, which this is all about, removing god from everything American.

If it is removed from currency, it should be removed from everything, including making a pledge to a symbol , using the term, "one nation, under god". If we are going to be an atheist nation there shouldn't be any reference to any religion.

That's my point, where does it stop.

I voted to have it removed, but I don't really care that much one way or the other. I don't pay attention to money except to spend it, and I don't have to recite the pledge. When the national anthem is sung, I will take my hat off and stand, but I don't go for that hand over the heart thing, and I certainly don't sing along . I don't know why, but the whole idea of pledging allegiance to a piece of cloth seems silly.

It seems pretty silly to me too. I don't get much out of it, other than they made us do it all through school. The whole pledge thing is pointless for me. I don't agree with most of the governments policies so I'm not making a pledge to anything.

I did not vote because I think it should not be removed for the sake of tradition.

Shawn wrote:I did not vote because I think it should not be removed for the sake of tradition.

What of the earlier tradition when currency & the pledge did not contain references to god? If you truly desire the "sake of tradition" stance, it seems you should reject the deification of our currency & pledge.

The pledge of allegiance was written by a socialist. And the original salute to it was the straight arm salute the NAZIs adopted. (So much for tradition) We changed to the hand over heart routine because we didn't want to be 'that' socialist with our pledge. Look it up.

When I see the word "God" on the currency I don't think of the Christian god, except that I am Christian. I think that what it is really mentioning is whatever greater power you believe in. Whatever deity, power, spiritual signifigance you believe in, we trust in that entity to guide us to be a better nation. That's what I get out of it.

I no longer say the pledge because of its origins. I do however stand for the anthem. We should still be the land of the free and home of the brave. I think I've changed from "nation first" to "ideals first". If America is for liberty, equality, and justice then I'm for America, but if America isn't then it can burn to the ground with the other oppressive, self-serving regimes.

The pledge of allegiance was changed to have "under god" at the height of McCarthyism. It was a truly terrible period for this country when people were being persecuted left and right for not being, well, basically for not being Christian enough--because in that period if you're not Christian enough, you must be a communist.

I agree to removing it from our pledge - one, it is not as Francis Bellamy wrote it but added later, and two - it almost forces you to pledge to acknowledging a diety.

As for the motto...I always liked E Pluribus Unum. It is more meaningful. But that is minor stuff.