Should "under god" be taken out of the Pledge of Allegance?

I will be arguing that the phrase "under god" should be taken out of the pledge due to violations of the U.S. Constitution (separation of church and state).

Accepted.
Most schools do not require student to recite the pledge if they don't want. And perhaps we can all find some sort of definition of the word 'god' that we could individually and subjectively apply to our own personal beliefs.
Say the pledge if you want, do not become the thought police and amend a tune from 1892.

Whether or not 'god' can be inferred differently -- I have my own ideas of god -- it still has religious or spiritual meaning. Due to the fact that we have a separation of church and state, a daily ritual practiced in school should not involve one's personal religious or spiritual belief. Also, choosing to say it does not change the fact that the pledge is state enforced, so there should be no "under god" whatsoever . . . That's like choosing to participate in a state enforced prayer.

Should you be arguing to take the pledge out of schools and not to remove 'under god?'

Why change something our nation grew up with? Is this our future, to delete those bits of history that may be uncouth?

Read a dollar bill, shall we burn them all? MLK spoke of god many times, should we amend his "I have a dream" speech in schools? When my children read the Declaration of Independence will it say, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are *explicit* equal, that they are endowed by their *censored* with unalienable rights..."?

Sure, I agree that organized prayer and other openly religious activities should remain outside of 'state mandate', it would, however, be a great loss to our culture and history to modify something that has stood so long. The pledge unites us all, it's an affirmation that we recognize the struggles our founding fathers and the process of the creation on this country.

The words 'under god' were added in 1954 under Eisenhower when the threat of global nuclear war loomed.

"In a message to Supreme Knight Luke E. Hart at the meeting of the Supreme Council in Louisville, August
17, 1954, President Eisenhower, in recognition of the initiative of the Knights of Columbus in originating and
sponsoring the amendment to the Pledge of Allegiance, said:
'We are particularly thankful to you for your part in the movement to have the words "under God" added to
our Pledge of Allegiance. These words will remind Americans that despite our great physical strength we
must remain humble. They will help us to keep constantly in our minds and hearts the spiritual and moral
principles which alone give dignity to man, and upon which our way of life is founded. For the contribution
which your organization has made to this cause, we must be genuinely grateful.' "*

The pledge is an opportunity to think about ones life and contemplate the meaning of it all. It is not an organized religious ceremony, it is an oath to oneself and country that no one is forced recite.

* http://www.kofc.org...

The pledge is something to unite us all and remind us of our parltriotism. That's why we are one nation indivisible. The phrase "under god" is not necessary to unification of the American people, it actually may separate them. If an American is an atheist is he unamerican? After all this is one nation under god, right? Several traditions can be considered unconstitutional or discriminatory which is completely unamerican. Many people deny gay rights because of "tradition". This country grew up with slaves but we abolished that because it was necessary, it divided the American people and was unconstitutional. The same can be said about the phrase "under god" -- except it is not as inhuman as enslavement. State can not put this country in favor of or against a religious belief even if it is tradition, so this phrase should be removed.

In my closing argument I would like to further debunk the argument of tradition. My opponent said that the U.S. grew up with the pledge saying "under god,"but later acknowledged that the phrase was added in 1954 by Eisenhower. The reason for this was to show that we were more "holy", if you will, than the Soviet Union. Finally, the U.S. grew up with a Constitution with beautiful words of equality and separation of church and state. This country will not be governed by religion.