A New Pledge of Allegiance?

I was discussing the history of the Pledge of Allegiance in my class on religion and the media today, and was astonished to learn that some of my students–one from Santa Barbara, others from upstate New York–had been accustomed to recite the Pledge in public school with the words “under all” replacing “under God.” As […]

Pledgingallegiance.jpgI was discussing the history of the Pledge of Allegiance in my class on religion and the media today, and was astonished to learn that some of my students–one from Santa Barbara, others from upstate New York–had been accustomed to recite the Pledge in public school with the words “under all” replacing “under God.” As in: “one nation, under all, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Under all what? All gods, goddesses and beliefs, as one blog comment I found puts it? Or, self-referentially, the same “all” that liberty and justice is for?

Howsoever, if this is indeed happening in school districts across the U.S., it would appear that some teachers or administrators or school boards have quietly (I can’t find any news coverage) decided that–as Michael Newdow argued before the Supreme Court–“under God” is an unconstitutional establishment of religion that they want no part of. Or maybe it’s another example of rote mishearing, like “Our Father which art in heaven, Harold be thy Name.” Anybody out there know?


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