I don't ever remember having to say the pledge in school and I was in Catholic Schools from grade school through High School.
The interesting thing about this is that the 'under god' part of the pledge wasn't in the original version of the pledge...it was added in 1954.
It's kind of catch 22 situation...you don't want to force those that don't believe in a higher power to participate in would could be considered religious rituals (for lack of a better term)...yet you don't want to deny those that are religious their right to perform those rituals.
The question here is this: Is the pledge in it's current form considered a 'religious ritual' because of the phrase 'under god'?
Personally...it doesn't really matter to me, since I do believe in a higher power (just not what the main stream religions believe). However I do admit that the fact that 'under god' didn't exist in the pledge until 1954 I find a tad disturbing. Reason being that it seems that during that time the right took advantage of the depression era to 'spread the Word' in an indirect way...
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