The problem with the pledge

On September 7, 1892, the United States pledge of allegiance was penned and published by Francis Bellamy. About a month later, on October 12, 1892, the pledge was first recited in public schools. And since that day, it has been recited by millions of Americans in school, at sporting events, national ceremonies, and even churches. Reciting the pledge is regarded as a patriotic activity that all Americans should participate in.

But while the pledge might give every “patriotic” American a warm, fuzzy feeling in their hearts, what they don’t realize is what they are actually saying when they recite the pledge.

Before I delve into that, however, I would like to take a look at the pledge’s history.

Francis Bellamy was born on May 18, 1855 to a Baptist minister. Bellamy himself grew up to become a Baptist minister—and a socialist. (You might know the name Bellamy because of his brother Edward Bellamy, who wrote the sociliast-utopian novels Looking Backward and Equality.)

In 1888, family-oriented magazine Youth’s Companion began selling American flags to public schools. Three years later, the magazine hired Francis Bellamy to promote the selling of the flags by writing a pledge for their advertising campaign. The pledge “was marketed as a way to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus arriving in the Americas and was first published on the following day.”¹

The pledge was written to promote national unity in the United States.

In other words, the pledge was written to condition the people to the idea that the national government was supreme over the states. The states had little—if any—rights. The states could not secede. The nation was one.

...and to The Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

One Nation...indivisible. Do you realize what that means? The union cannot be dissolved! The union is not a loose joining of the states which they can remove themselves from at any time! The union is the states’ abdication of their rights! Because they decided to pool their resources for defense and an overseeing board, if you will, they lost their rights.

But while the indivisibility of the union is absurd, there is an even more incredible, outrageous, and downright frightening concept.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to The Republic for which it stands....

I pledge allegiance to the flag...and to The Republic for which it stands. Do you realize what you’re saying when you say that? You’re pledging your allegiance to a symbol—the flag—and to the government that brandishes said flag. You are giving your allegiance to Leviathan! Leviathan taxes you, you pay the taxes with little or no complaint. Leviathan goes to war, you support the war by speaking for it or by fighting in it. Leviathan murders an innocent, you ignore it. You cannot disobey, deny, or fight Leviathan. Leviathan owns your property, your body, your mind.

Christians have one—and only one—to whom they owe allegiance: Jesus Christ. They are not to give their allegiance to their government. While they are to obey their government, they are to obey it only when doing such is in accord with the Bible.

When you pledge allegiance to the government, you are basically saying that you will support it no matter what it does and no matter what it costs you—even if it’s your very life.

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¹http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance#History