JOINT COOPERATIVE EDUCATION PROJECT

The Pledge of Allegiance For Life

UNITED WE STAND

I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, born and unborn.

The Pledge of Allegiance Time for a Change By Kevin M. Jeanfreau, Founder CHRISTIAN  PATRIOTS  FOR  LIFE www.CpForLife.org The subtitle of the CHRISTIAN  PATRIOTS  FOR  LIFE web site is the end of the Pledge of Allegiance; asked in the form of a question. One Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all ? Unfortunately, each part must honestly be answered in the negative throughout much of the Twentieth century; especially in the aftermath of Roe v. Wade and the overall moral corruption and decay manifest throughout our society. Ours is a Nation divided along so many moral and ethical lines. We are a Nation that officially denies liberty and justice-not to mention life, to 4,000 citizens every day through the abominable crime of abortion. Approximately 25% of all conceptions are ended by the “choice” of mothers who end the lives of their children. For several years now, many pro-lifers across this Nation have added: "born and unborn" to the end when reciting the Pledge. This is a simple yet significant step in the right direction. We believe that it is time for the Pro-Life Movement to begin in earnest, a formal campaign to have the words "born and unborn.” added to our Nation's Pledge of Allegiance. One simple way to get this started is to add it to our websites and promotional materials in a place of prominence. We must of course create awareness amongst ourselves first. To that end I cordially invite any and all People of Life to feel free to copy this entire page and add it to their site. Also feel free to use it in handouts, literature, etc. Stories on the Internet tell of young adults not knowing any other way of saying the Pledge after years in Christian schools reciting the “born and unborn” version. Consider what the effect could be if a majority of Christian and private schools started each day with this Pledge. Until we become "One Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, born and unborn." our Republic-just like the unborn, is in mortal peril. There can be no doubt that after reading the short paragraphs below from two of our founding fathers, that their goal and purpose was indeed to have One Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, born and unborn. [W]e have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion....Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. (Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co. 1854), Vol. IX, p. 229, October 11, 1798.) Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime & pure, [and] which denounces against the wicked eternal misery, and [which] insured to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments. (Source: Bernard C. Steiner, The Life and Correspondence of James McHenry (Cleveland: The Burrows Brothers, 1907), p. 475. In a letter from Charles Carroll to James McHenry of November 4, 1800.) The Pledge of Allegiance A Short History by Dr. John W. Baer Copyright 1992 by Dr. John W. Baer Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931), a Baptist minister, wrote the original Pledge in August 1892. He was a Christian Socialist. In his Pledge, he is expressing the ideas of his first cousin, Edward Bellamy, author of the American socialist utopian novels, Looking Backward (1888) and Equality (1897). Francis Bellamy in his sermons and lectures and Edward Bellamy in his novels and articles described in detail how the middle class could create a planned economy with political, social and economic equality for all. The government would run a peace time economy similar to our present military industrial complex. The Pledge was published in the September 8th issue of The Youth's Companion, the leading family magazine and the Reader's Digest of its day. Its owner and editor, Daniel Ford, had hired Francis in 1891 as his assistant when Francis was pressured into leaving his baptist church in Boston because of his socialist sermons. As a member of his congregation, Ford had enjoyed Francis's sermons. Ford later founded the liberal and often controversial Ford Hall Forum, located in downtown Boston. In 1892 Francis Bellamy was also a chairman of a committee of state superintendents of education in the National Education Association. As its chairman, he prepared the program for the public schools' quadricentennial celebration for Columbus Day in 1892. He structured this public school program around a flag raising ceremony and a flag salute - his 'Pledge of Allegiance.' His original Pledge read as follows: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag and (to*) the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.' He considered placing the word, 'equality,' in his Pledge, but knew that the state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality for women and African Americans. [ * 'to' added in October, 1892. ] Dr. Mortimer Adler, American philosopher and last living founder of the Great Books program at Saint John's College, has analyzed these ideas in his book, The Six Great Ideas. He argues that the three great ideas of the American political tradition are 'equality, liberty and justice for all.' 'Justice' mediates between the often conflicting goals of 'liberty' and 'equality.' In 1923 and 1924 the National Flag Conference, under the 'leadership of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, changed the Pledge's words, 'my Flag,' to 'the Flag of the United States of America.' Bellamy disliked this change, but his protest was ignored. In 1954, Congress after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, added the words, 'under God,' to the Pledge. The Pledge was now both a patriotic oath and a public prayer. Bellamy's granddaughter said he also would have resented this second change. He had been pressured into leaving his church in 1891 because of his socialist sermons. In his retirement in Florida, he stopped attending church because he disliked the racial bigotry he found there. What follows is Bellamy's own account of some of the thoughts that went through his mind in August, 1892, as he picked the words of his Pledge: "It began as an intensive communing with salient points of our national history, from the Declaration of Independence onwards; with the makings of the Constitution...with the meaning of the Civil War; with the aspiration of the people... The true reason for allegiance to the Flag is the 'republic for which it stands.' ...And what does that vast thing, the Republic mean? It is the concise political word for the Nation - the One Nation which the Civil War was fought to prove. To make that One Nation idea clear, we must specify that it is indivisible, as Webster and Lincoln used to repeat in their great speeches. And its future? Just here arose the temptation of the historic slogan of the French Revolution which meant so much to Jefferson and his friends, 'Liberty, equality, fraternity.' No, that would be too fanciful, too many thousands of years off in realization. But we as a nation do stand square on the doctrine of liberty and justice for all..." If the Pledge's historical pattern repeats, its words will be modified during this decade. Below are two possible changes. Some prolife advocates recite the following slightly revised Pledge: 'I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, born and unborn.' A few liberals recite a slightly revised version of Bellamy's original Pledge: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with equality, liberty and justice for all.' Bibliography: Baer, John. The Pledge of Allegiance, A Centennial History, 1892 - 1992, Annapolis, Md. Free State Press, Inc., 1992. Miller, Margarette S. Twenty-Three Words, Portsmouth, Va. Printcraft Press, 1976.

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