The Pledge of Allegiance - humble patriotism or Communist practice? The Pledge of Allegiance has been common practice since the end of the Nineteenth Century. When it was created by minister Francis Bellamy, it read, "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.“ Since then, it has had many iterations, most of them insignificant belittlements. However, significant changes did occur after World War II when the Cold War began.

The Cold War was a battle between Communism and Democracy. With the ever growing advancement in nuclear weapons, the Cold War lead to an epidemic of fear over the United States. The fear of a nuclear attack and a Communist take-over was common amongst Americans in the 1950′s. Communists were alleged atheists and Americans felt they had God on their side. So, “under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance.

Since then, the Pledge of Allegiance has experienced controversy. First of all, originally when saying the pledge, you were supposed to put your arm out to the flag and do the Bellamy salute. The Bellamy salute is when you extend your arm out with your hand open and your palm down. However, when World War II broke out, the Nazis adapted the salute. After this, the salute was changed to putting your right hand over your heart.

Now, I’m not against liberty and justice for all. I am just pointing out how the Pledge of Allegiance is reminiscent to cultish characteristics. Students are taught to say the Pledge everyday during school That adds up to about 200 times pledging allegiance a year. When I brought this topic up to my mother she said that a positive to reciting the pledge is that it “instills a sense of patriotism which is often absent in this day in age.” While I agree with her that having a sense of patriotism is not a bad thing, being taught to do this everyday doesn’t teach children to honor their country, it teaches them to mindlessly adhere to a country they know nothing about.

Elementary school students are not informed of the terrors of politics and controversial actions of the United States’ government. Being for these policies or not, there is no argument that these students are not old enough to form their own opinions. The United States was built on a foundation to have your own opinion. To be told to say an oath to the country every day as an adolescent is mindlessly “brainwashing”.

The United States is a great country. It provides its citizens with opportunity and freedom that many other countries don’t. North Korea, a Communist state where its citizens are starving and malnourished, believes that they are a great, all powerful country. People from North Korea worship their leaders like people from the United States worship their constitution. With this lack of a sense of identity, mindless devotion to a country is unjust. Now, I am not saying that it’s bad to love your country, however, forcing students to recite an oath to an inanimate object with no idea what it stands for is unconstitutional.

There have been many major court cases evaluating the pledge, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses saying it was against their beliefs to display loyalty to anyone other than God. They said that including the “under God” portion was a violation of the separation of Church and State. However, American students from Kindergarten to senior year of high school are still reciting the pledge every morning. With this lack of knowledge that students have about their country, they should not be saying it every morning.