Today in my religion class, my teacher called an eight year old girl her hero. Why is this girl, from Brooklyn, New York my teacher's hero?
This young child, who is eight years old, did not say the Pledge of Allegiance at school, nor did she even know the Pledge. This young girl fought with the school, until they finally gave in, and agreed to say the Pledge of Allegiance in school.
Many schools today are excising the Pledge from their classrooms because of the line
"One Nation, under God."
Although this does put God in government, which is a place that many feel He does not belong, it is unnecessary to remove the Pledge of Allegiance from the lives of Americans. It is not a prayer, and it is not saying that everyone in our country has to believe in God. That's the great thing about The First Amendment. It states that we have the freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition. The Pledge of Allegiance is an oath of loyalty to our country. Although the original Pledge did not include the words "under God," and were added in 1954, our nation has been built on the belief that we are truly, one nation, under God. This line was not added just because the man who came up with it was a believer, he took the words from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Some people even disagree with this fact, although, when Lincoln was making this speech, he did say, "that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom."
If you are a true American, you will put controversy and religious beliefs aside, put your right hand over your heart, and pledge your loyalty to the national flag.