A
nation suffering without God
Chris
Lanski
We
have all heard the commotion of the Pledge
of Allegiance's phrase "one country
under God" and the argument that we
should change it to reflect our country
today. If you don't like it, don't say it,
we weren't forced, so say everything else.
Oh, now you don't like saying it at all?
Wow, what would you know?
Well,
I'm going to start with the people who struck
down the Ten Commandments monument in Alabama,
a monument put up to recognize the foundation
of our western law is okay. Western law
acknowledges that its basis comes down to
an event that coincides with religious views.
I love that as Americans, we have the true
freedom of religion as long as we can keep
it to one day a week. It is remarkable how
our country can strive to be so great yet
it can let its democracy-based system fall
towards one that is capitalism-run.
Everyone
is so worried about defining "separation
of church and state" in this country
of ours that we actually forget the true
purpose of why it was inserted into the
Constitution.
Back
to our country as a "whole." The
only whole we have is the hole in our own
lives. We get surprised about situations
in our home life when we realize we can't
schedule family into your life, you need
to schedule your life around your family.
Same as religious beliefs, we should be
able to express them freely as we are supposed
to. We have the equal right to try to live
everyday with God, Allah, Yahweh, Jehovah,
the path, Buddha, Zen, etc. It seems contradictory
to "freedom of religion" when
nobody gets represented and it gets pushed
under the rug.
We
may have gotten it all wrong for generations,
so hold on to your seats and keep your head
in an upright position. The idea of "separation
of church and state" may have actually
been meant to keep the head officials of
any religion out of the major governmental
power offices (for example, the pope cannot
be a president). Now that actually makes
our freedom of religion seem worth it. As
for prayer in schools, what's the problem?
I don't see that many people whining when
their classmates pray before their midterm,
and it's not forced upon the students. You
have the choice not to pray. Same thing
applies to the Pledge of Allegiance. If
you don't like the four-word phrase then
just hold your respectful silence and I'll
respect your choice without criticism. And
to the father of a kindergartner in California,
please be quiet already. Your daughter doesn't
have a problem with being quiet throughout
part of or the entire Pledge, even though
she doesn't mind saying it every morning
and holds the opinion of her mother rather
than you might about "one nation under
God." If you are that worried, we can
compromise and choose something that reflects
both views: "One nation struggling
without God."
Chris
Lanski is a kinesiology major at Cal State
Long Beach.
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