“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
When I was a kid, we used to say this every morning in school, and, for those New Englanders who grew up in the fifties and went home for lunch every day from elementary school and were lucky enough to watch Big Brother Bob Emery at noon, we toasted the then President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the American flag with a glass of milk. Then we had lunch and returned to school.
The “under God” was added one year after I began reciting the pledge, but because we have always been a nation of diverse faiths and numerous variations of a deity, we didn’t specify a particular religious institution or faith. In fact, the foundation of this nation was religious freedom, and, while there has unfortunately been discrimination against people and/or their religious beliefs, the clause “liberty and justice for all”, which references the constitutional rights of ALL our peoples, has always reigned supreme against any overt actions to the contrary.
So, how could we allow ourselves to come to this place where we ban whole countries access to experience what we have for so many years.
Are we going to allow our freedoms to be taken away? Make no mistake, these are OUR FREEDOMS that are being attacked and diminished!
Even more insidious is the fact that only Muslim countries in which the President’s companies don’t do business have been singled out. Worse yet is the fact that the Muslim countries that aren’t banned are the ones that most of the terrorists have come from.
Islam shares the same Old Testament that we do, with the addition of the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed. It is a religion of Peace. It is founded in Love. Jesus is considered a teacher or prophet in Islam. It is the politicization of Islam, which foments war and hate, much in the same way the Christian Right in this country has politicized Christianity. Why are we not living by Jesus’ words and deeds as Christians?
The basic tenets of all religions are the self-discovery of our divinity and discovering love for all humanity, and learning how to become stewards for all its peoples and the planet.
When will we move beyond the love of money and power to begin to care for everyone? When will we begin to embrace our divinity, so that we can embrace our love for humanity as a nation and as a planet?
~revjim
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