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NBC apology on Pledge of Allegiance doesn't satisfy Family Research CouncilBy Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor Apology not accepted. The Family Research Council, a conservative Christian advocacy group, is turning up the heat on NBC after it edited out "under God, indivisible" - twice - during a taped piece of children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance as part of last weekend's final round coverage of the U.S. Open Golf Championship. The group wants to see the pledge recited on NBC, in its entirety, daily. The criticism on social media over the golf gaffe came fast enough that NBC issued an on-air apology Sunday a few hours later during its coverage. NBC lead golf commentator Dan Hicks told the audience, "Regrettably, a portion of the Pledge of Allegiance that was in that feature was edited out. It was not done to upset anyone, and we'd like to apologize to those of you who were offended by it." On Monday, NBCUniversal Sports issued a second apology from Chris McCloskey, its vice president of communications. He said in part, that a "decision was made by a small group of people to edit portions of the Pledge of Allegiance. This was a bad decision." And he again apologized if the deliberate omission upset anyone. But that did not satisfy the Family Research Council. Now the council is urging its members to contact NBC and demand the network play a public service announcement featuring the Pledge of Allegiance, in its entirety, daily. "NBC must remedy this abuse by airing a series of public service announcement(s) with the entire Pledge of Allegiance," read an e-mail blast sent Tuesday from council President Tony Perkins. "Please join me in contacting NBC and demanding that the network air a daily public service announcement with the entire Pledge of Allegiance." The Washington-based Family Research Council says its mission is to advance "faith, family and freedom in public policy and public opinion." The group is best known for its strong objections to same-sex marriage and abortion. It's a powerful political force among conservative evangelicals. "This is something that people, they get and they're upset about it," Perkins told CNN. "We know that 15,000 people have already sent e-mails to NBC. Based on the calls I got this morning, this is something people are incensed over." Perkins said he did not watch the event live. He said he is not a big golf fan but was alerted to the omission quickly. He said he found the use of military images with the pledge omission particularly galling. "As a veteran I stood for the pledge and I stood for all of the pledge," the retired Marine said. "These types of things need to be met with significant resistance," he said when asked if his group was leveraging this controversy for its own gain. "It's not up to NBC to change the pledge of the United States of America." The phrase "under God" was not always in the Pledge of Allegiance. The pledge was written by Francis Bellamy, a former Baptist minister who had left the pulpit and was working at a magazine, Youth's Companion. The magazine was putting together a nationwide celebration to honor Columbus discovering the New World. The pledge was expressly patriotic according to author and political scientist Richard Ellis in "To the Flag: The Unlikely History of the Pledge of Allegiance." The pledge and the protocol for the pledge did not make it into U.S. law until June 22, 1942. The phrase "under God" was added in 1954. Rep Louis Rabaut, D-Michigan, offered an amendment to add the phrase to the pledge. It was a homage to President Abraham Lincoln who had famously used it in the Gettysburg Address. Rabaut testified before the House Judiciary Committee in 1954 why he thought it should be added because, "By the addition of the phrase 'Under God' to the pledge the consciousness of the American people will be more alerted to the true meaning of our country and its form of government," he said. "In this full awareness we will, I believe, be strengthened for the conflict now facing us and more determined to preserve our precious heritage." President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill into law on Flag Day in 1954. The pledge has been challenged in court, in particular the fact that children are instructed to recite it in public schools. Plaintiffs have argued that infringed on a student's First Amendment rights, citing the establishment clause, commonly referred to as "the separation of church and state." The Supreme Court ruled the phrase was constitutional in 2004. In that decision, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote in a concurring opinion, "Whatever the sectarian ends its authors may have had in mind, our continued repetition of the reference to 'one Nation under God' in an exclusively patriotic context has shaped the cultural significance of that phrase to conform to that context. Any religious freight the words may have been meant to carry originally has long since been lost." Perkins said in addition to the public service announcement of a daily Pledge of Allegiance he said he would also like to see NBC produce a program explaining the history of the pledge and why "under God" was inserted in the first place. NBC hasn't responded to Perkins about his requests. A spokesman for the network declined to comment further on the matter. |
About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Dan Gilgoff and Eric Marrapodi, with daily contributions from CNN's worldwide newsgathering team and frequent posts from religion scholar and author Stephen Prothero. |
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It is a national embarrassment that, in 2011, we still have so many in this country who still believe in sky-fairies. This, unfortunately, speaks volumes about the state of education in the USA.
"sky-fairies"????
Name one person that does.
Uncouth, there are millions in this country that believe in angels, heaven and hell. We're still in the Dark Ages.
Right. If you do not believe in some invisible deity living in the sky keeping track of what you do YOU are the weird one – LOL!
If I say god talks to me I'm celebrated. If I say the Great Pumpkin talks to me I'm crazy.
President Obama expresses belief in God frequently. Americans elected a "schizophrenic" to run their country?
There were only two choices on the ballot. Both McCain and Obama are schizoid. McCain was also senile, while Obama was just another slick politician. Guess which one won this time? The smart sleazeball and not the whacked out senile one.
NBC has nothing to apologize for. They used the original secular version of the pledge. The 1950s congress should be the ones apologizing for their illegal actions and inserting religion into our government. It is time to remove it from our pledge and our money. "e pluribus unum" is all we need.
I agree. To those Christians out there who disagree, here's an ana logy. Your daughter goes to school and some playground bullies want to touch her inappropriately so they hold her down and put their fingers places they do not belong. You would be extremely angry and want the children punished and expelled if not thrown in jail. Now think about our government as your daughter and organized religion as the bully and your God as the fingers. No one is complaining that the bully has fingers, they just don't want those fingers shoved in places they do not belong.
@GodPot,
While I don't disagree with your position, that might be the worst analogy I've ever seen.
Agree 100% with Lacking Evidence, thanks!
I agree 100% with Lacking Evidence since 14 Billion BCE
I am sick of NBC and I am sick of ignorant liberals tearing our country down. Therefore, I refuse to watch or listen to anything NBC has to offer except for the occassional local weather report. It is simple, click the channel.
The long term god forecast is pretty poor and you can't face it, so you turn away. Coward.
I looked in the bible for a quote about holding a grudge, but all I could find was this:
Colossians 3:13
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
So your'e saying you like FOX and love the lying conservatives who really should have a whole other network dedicated to corrections that should be made to FOX claims. They should call it "FOXMC" for "FOX MEA CULPA".
That's ironic, I tend to not watch NBC all that much as it is, but since this happened I may start tuning in a bit more...but only if they deny this demand from Perkins' little "group".
Ignorant liberals tearing the United States down? By ignorant do you mean ignoring an entire news station because they opt out of supporting your religion at the expense of other people? By tearing our country down do you mean only supporting liberty when it's convenient for your own narrowly-constructed reality, but denounce others when they want their own? Hmm...
What is ignorant about restoring the Pledge to its proper original form? And, really, wouldn't that be a CONSERVATIVE thing to do? I mean, isn't it those dirty LIBERALS who insist on changing things to update them? The words "under God" were inserted for political purposes. Isn't it the CONSERVATIVE position that changing something for the sake of political expediency is reprehensible?
SUPPORT CONSERVATISM! RESTORE THE PLEDGE TO ITS PROPER FORM!
(And while we're at it, restore the national motto "E Pluribus Unum" and dispose of the revisionist "In God We Trust" phrase.)
Follow the Facebook discussion RE: the dishonor & promote the boycott of NBC accordingly on their page
Do these Christian organizations actually do anything to make the US a better place? What a waste of time and money.
@Peabody – great points.
@patriotic and faithful and @papajohn – haha, you guys should hang out together and recite the pledge over and over. Whether you like it or not ppl will change the pledge, some will recite it other will not and don't care. It's life, get over it.
Yes they do. Do your research.
No, they don't. Do your research...
There are Christian organizations that do a lot of good. Just not this one.
@Tomas:
Not sure where you live but around my neck of the woods we have Soup Kitchens, Homeless Shelters, Food Pantries, Domestic Violence shelters, and a little club called the Salvation Army which are all funded and run by religious groups. That's just a few of the good works they do. Two reasons none of that will ever make the news; 1) True christians believe there works are to benifit God, not themselves, so they don't look for credit. 2) It wouldn't fit the "crazy Christian" stereotype that seems to be so en vogue in the media nowadays.
As far as the pledge goes, if you don't like it, don't say it. That simple. To change something as sacred as the pledge is a horrible notion and should be treated as treason. Regardless of your personal beliefs, millions of men and women have fought and died to protect those words and the ideas they convey. To change it is to spit in their faces.
@Gone With the Wind: Are any of your soup kitchens etc funded by the Family Research Council? No? That's the point.
Also an editing eff-up should be treated as treason? And all those who refuse to say that phrase? Will we be locking them up and executing them too? Surely you can hear how crazy you sound.
"To change something as sacred as the pledge is a horrible notion and should be treated as treason."
Does this mean that the Christians who changed the pledge in 1954 to include the phrase 'under god' guilty of treason? Or are changes that support your own personal beliefs exempt?
I leave out the words "under God" when I say the pledge. It's my understanding those words violate the Ten Commandments prohibition against using the Lord's name in vain. It's a hollow form of faith that insists on its right to blaspheme the very deity it claims to worship.
I know you cannot be serious about this statement. Please.
She should be serious because she's right.
Why should God be entangled in the tawdry, earthly affairs of the civil government? I would think He would be offended by the association with our political process.
... if there were a god, that is.
Megan, I realize the english language is tough for ignorant liberals like you. But saying the name God when you are, in fact, refering to Him is not "using His name in vain". This concept is probably too far of a stretch for the pot smoking, education shunning, ignorance loving, high school drop out liberals out there to understand. But what else is new? This population of Americans are a disgrace to what this country stands for.
To these people it's "God bless America, and no place else".
If God is on our side, explain how God is on the side of our enemies who claim to be fighting in the name of God?
We could save a lot of arguing by just getting rid of the pledge of allegiance.
I agree, the country was fine for over 100 years without it.
Bingo!
For those with little to no history "Lernin" –
The Pledge has been modified four times since its composition, with the most recent change adding the words "under God" in 1954. Francis Julius Bellamys original Pledge read as follows:
"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all" Sep 8th 1892
And for those that are not that great with math either, that would mean the pledge has existed longer (62 years) without "under God" than with it (57 yrs).
The Pledge is unAmerican bullsh!t. The Founding Fathers would have been appalled that we have a loyalty obedience ritual. It is the product of small minds, and it is championed by small minds. It takes a lot more to champion real liberty.
I don't think any other democracy has anything similar that everyone is supposed to recite. Government officials and military inductees do, but only the U.S. seems to have one for everyone.
Whta a foolish, childish, pointless thing the pledge is.
Meh. Let the FRC chase their tails for a few months on this one. Less time they have to do other stupid sh1t.
In fact, I suggest we find out where they're sending all these demands and send our own messages of encouragement letting NBC know there are plenty of people that don't want to see them suffer these nutjobs lightly.
“The group wants to see the pledge recited on NBC, in its entirety, daily. – The Washington-based Family Research Council says its mission is to advance "faith, family and freedom in public policy and public opinion””
I’m shocked. Another conservative Christian lobbying group whose goal is force their absurd Bronze Age based beliefs into our daily lives and legislate those beliefs into modern law? No thank you.
Groups like the Family Research Council are sowing the seeds of creeping religious fascism. Wrapping one’s religious beliefs up in the flag, cloaking them under the term “patriotism” and then seeking to force those beliefs on others indicate there is something wrong when clearly not everyone agrees with them. Wedging “under God” into the pledge was a violation of the Establishment Clause and the intention of First Amendment, as the US was never meant to be a Theocracy.
“When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, ‘tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one.” – Benjamin Franklin
Apology NOT accepted NBC! You do not have the right to rewrite the Pledge of Allegiance! This IS NOT ok! By choosing to present the Pledge you committed to representing it as it was written and as was put into law! You can't just decide to omit a portion because it doesn't suit you!
Why not? People do that to the bible all the time?
Regards,
Jeff Zucker, CEO of NBCUniversial
"as it was written"
---
Take a history lesson. As it was originally written never included 'under god'. It was inst.ituted in response to irrational fear amongst a Christian majority to a atheistic soviet nation. Get a grip. Would you feel comfortable if the pledge read 'under Krishna?' If not, then if you actually believe in American values, you wouldn't oppose removing 'under god'
It should be "under Gods" right? I mean you being Christian and all shouldn't you let your God pass judgement? Christians are always talking about Muslims trying to take over, but I think they need to look in a mirror. I think the "under God" part wasn't added until the late 40's or 50's when the "godless Communist" was the Muslim of the day. "Christians", through subversive measures, planted their dear little seed designed to lure American's into a fairytale, so they are more easily manipulated if need be, as are all religions. A Republican and a Christian cannot inhabit the same body at the same time. An exorcism would be necessary to be rid of the evil.... but which one is worse?
Hey look another angry ignorant schizophrenic thinking that this country is actually a god's country. lol
The Pledge has been modified four times since its composition, with the most recent change adding the words "under God" in 1954.
Francis Julius Bellamys original Pledge read as follows:
"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all" Sep 8th 1892
What was that about "as it was written"?
There is no law regarding how to say the pledge of allegiance. Some people do not say it at all. It is their choice.
@JW,
Actually there is a law (statute anyway) on the Pledge, http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode04/usc_sec_04_00000004--000-.html,
although there is no criminal code or at least no codified punishment for violating the statute.
While I agree the phrase under God was not part of the original pledge, and have no personal objection to it being removed, I do think it is wrong for NBC or any other broadcasting network to alter the pledge when eveer and how ever they want. Its the pledge change legally you you most but till resite it as is. I alos objest to bleeping out the words under God on tv basically that puts them on the same level as profanity. While I jknow many people don't believe God saying under God should not be treated like saying f&$k or s#@t
@Patriotic and faithful
"You do not have the right to rewrite the Pledge of Allegiance!"
But it wasn't NBC that rewrote it in the first place.
It was the congressman from Michigan who inserted "under God" in 1954 who your "daily loyalty oath".
This is not "one nation under God", this is simply another nation of man.
"God bless America, and no place else!"
Needless to say ,,,,I will never listen to, view or read anything NBC has to say in the future. Leave my PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE in it's entirity !!!!!!!!!
You will be missed.
(Just kidding, tool.)
It's "entirety" didn't used to include, 'under God'. It's been perverted from its original intent.
You mean, the version of the pledge of allegiance that was modified in the 1950's by fear-mongering Christians and not the original pledge that actually reflected American values, such as the first amendment, correct? I'd prefer the original much more. This nation is not under one or many gods, despite what conservative Christians advocating for a theocracy would like you to believe.
Then I assume we wont see your delusional self on here being CNN is associated with NBC...thank you for playing...have a nice day. Don't you have ag od to get on your knees for and service?
To those who apparently didn't take American History, like you Papa John:
The Pledge has been modified four times since its composition, with the most recent change adding the words "under God" in 1954.
Francis Julius Bellamys original Pledge read as follows:
"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all" Sep 8th 1892
Which version? The original from 1884 that DIDN'T include "under God," or the one altered by the Eisenhower adminstration in 1954 to include it?
Seems like the Christian thing to do would be to forgive NBC.
I never could get the hang of turning the other cheek !!!!!!
Ah, the Sarah-Palin-"Don't retreat, reload" take on Christianity. Well, keep practicing. You could learn a lesson or two from any Buddhist monk.
These folk won't be happy until they (or their cronies) are running the country. We will all suffer under their rule especially their followers.
Thank God that will never happen!!!
And how much does Tony Perkins make for spouting his and Dobson's "red neck values"?
$200,000/yr.
Once again, what the Pledge should have as a major add-on:
The Apostles' Creed 2011: (updated by yours truly based on the studies of NT historians and theologians during the past 200 years)
I might believe in a god whose existence cannot be proven
and said god if he/she/it exists resides in an unproven,
human-created, spirit state of bliss called heaven.
I believe there was a 1st century CE, Jewish, simple,
preacher-man who was conceived by a Jewish carpenter
named Joseph living in Nazareth and born of a young Jewish
girl named Mary. (Some say he was a mamzer.)
Jesus was summarily crucified for being a temple rabble-rouser by
the Roman troops in Jerusalem serving under Pontius Pilate,
He was buried in an unmarked grave and still lies
a-mouldering in the ground somewhere outside of
Jerusalem.
Said Jesus' story was embellished and "mythicized" by
many semi-fiction writers. A bodily resurrection and
ascension stories were promulgated to compete with the
Caesar myths. Said stories were so popular that they
grew into a religion known today as Catholicism/Christianity
and featuring dark-age, daily wine to blood and bread to body rituals
called the eucharistic sacrifice of the non-atoning Jesus.
Amen
I'm confused. What's the connection between the Pledge and "Reality's Screed" (aka Apostles' Creed 2011), again?
Reality,
Do you have evidence for your view? So far the Jesus-Seminar has yet to come up with any convincing reason for believing this.
@Nonimus- There is none, Reality is 98% copy/paste on here.
Nonimus,
The concept of god.
With respect to developing the updated Apostles' Creed:
Some references required:
o 1. Historical Jesus Theories, earlychristianwritings.com/theories.htm – the names of many of the contemporary historical Jesus scholars and the ti-tles of their over 100 books on the subject.
2. Early Christian Writings, earlychristianwritings.com/
– a list of early Christian doc-uments to include the year of publication–
30-60 CE Passion Narrative
40-80 Lost Sayings Gospel Q
50-60 1 Thessalonians
50-60 Philippians
50-60 Galatians
50-60 1 Corinthians
50-60 2 Corinthians
50-60 Romans
50-60 Philemon
50-80 Colossians
50-90 Signs Gospel
50-95 Book of Hebrews
50-120 Didache
50-140 Gospel of Thomas
50-140 Oxyrhynchus 1224 Gospel
50-200 Sophia of Jesus Christ
65-80 Gospel of Mark
70-100 Epistle of James
70-120 Egerton Gospel
70-160 Gospel of Peter
70-160 Secret Mark
70-200 Fayyum Fragment
70-200 Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
73-200 Mara Bar Serapion
80-100 2 Thessalonians
80-100 Ephesians
80-100 Gospel of Matthew
80-110 1 Peter
80-120 Epistle of Barnabas
80-130 Gospel of Luke
80-130 Acts of the Apostles
80-140 1 Clement
80-150 Gospel of the Egyptians
80-150 Gospel of the Hebrews
80-250 Christian Sibyllines
90-95 Apocalypse of John
90-120 Gospel of John
90-120 1 John
90-120 2 John
90-120 3 John
90-120 Epistle of Jude
93 Flavius Josephus
100-150 1 Timothy
100-150 2 Timothy
100-150 T-itus
100-150 Apocalypse of Peter
100-150 Secret Book of James
100-150 Preaching of Peter
100-160 Gospel of the Ebionites
100-160 Gospel of the Nazoreans
100-160 Shepherd of Hermas
100-160 2 Peter
3. Historical Jesus Studies, faithfutures.org/HJstudies.html,
– "an extensive and constantly expanding literature on historical research into the person and cultural context of Jesus of Nazareth"
Continued above:
Continued from above:
4. Jesus Database, faithfutures.org/JDB/intro.html–"The JESUS DATABASE is an online annotated inventory of the traditions concerning the life and teachings of Jesus that have survived from the first three centuries of the Common Era. It includes both canonical and extra-canonical materials, and is not limited to the traditions found within the Christian New Testament."
5. Josephus on Jesus mtio.com/articles/bissar24.htm
6. The Jesus Seminar, mystae.com/restricted/reflections/messiah/seminar.html#Criteria
7. Writing the New Testament- mystae.com/restricted/reflections/messiah/testament.html
8. Health and Healing in the Land of Israel By Joe Zias
joezias.com/HealthHealingLandIsrael.htm
9. Economics in First Century Palestine, K.C. Hanson and D. E. Oakman, Palestine in the Time of Jesus, Fortress Press, 1998.
10. 7. The Gnostic Jesus
(Part One in a Two-Part Series on Ancient and Modern Gnosticism)
by Douglas Groothuis: equip.org/free/DG040-1.htm
Continued from above:
11. The interpretation of the Bible in the Church, Pontifical Biblical Commission
Presented on March 18, 1994
ewtn.com/library/CURIA/PBCINTER.HTM#2
12. The Jesus Database- newer site:
wiki.faithfutures.org/index.php?t-itle=Jesus_Database
13. Jesus Database with the example of Supper and Eucharist:
faithfutures.org/JDB/jdb016.html
14. Josephus on Jesus by Paul Maier:
mtio.com/articles/bissar24.htm
15. The Journal of Higher Criticism with links to articles on the Historical Jesus:
mtio.com/articles/bissar24.htm
16. The Greek New Testament: laparola.net/greco/
17. Diseases in the Bible:
etd.unisa.ac.za/ETD-db/theses/available/etd-08022006-125807/unrestricted/02dissertation.pdf
18. Religion on Line (6000 articles on the history of religion, churches, theologies,
theologians, ethics, etc.
religion-online.org/
19. The Jesus Seminarians and their search for NT authenticity:
mystae.com/restricted/reflections/messiah/seminar.html#Criteria
20. The New Testament Gateway – Internet NT ntgateway.com/
Continued from above:
21. Writing the New Testament- existing copies, oral tradition etc.
ntgateway.com/
22. The Search for the Historic Jesus by the Jesus Seminarians:
members.aol.com/DrSwiney/seminar.html
23. Jesus Decoded by Msgr. Francis J. Maniscalco (Da Vinci Code review)jesusdecoded.com/introduction.php
24. JD Crossan's scriptural references for his book the Historical Jesus separated into time periods: faithfutures.org/Jesus/Crossan1.rtf
25. JD Crossan's conclusions about the authencity of most of the NT based on the above plus the conclusions of other NT exegetes in the last 200 years:
faithfutures.org/Jesus/Crossan2.rtf
26. Common Sayings from Thomas's Gospel and the Q Gospel: faithfutures.org/Jesus/Crossan3.rtf
27. Early Jewish Writings- Josephus and his books by t-itle with the complete translated work in English :earlyjewishwritings.com/josephus.html
28. Luke and Josephus- was there a connection?
infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/lukeandjosephus.html
29. NT and beyond time line:
pbs.org/empires/peterandpaul/history/timeline/
30. St. Paul's Time line with discussion of important events:
harvardhouse.com/prophetictech/new/pauls_life.htm
31. See http://www.amazon.com for a list of JD Crossan's books and those of the other Jesus Seminarians: Reviews of said books are included and selected pages can now be viewed on Amazon. Some books can be found on-line at Google Books.
32. Father Edward Schillebeeckx's words of wisdom as found in his books.
33. The books of the following : Professors Marcus Borg, Paula Fredriksen, Elaine Pagels, Karen Armstrong and Bishop NT Wright.
34. Father Raymond Brown's An Introduction to the New Testament, Doubleday, NY, 1977, 878 pages, with Nihil obstat and Imprimatur.
35. Luke Timothy Johnson's book The Real Jesus.
@Reaility,
– Holy Crap! - Sorry I said anything.
Although, I still don't see the connect between what you posted and why NBC should or should not apologize.
<- connection
"The group wants to see the pledge recited on NBC, in its entirety, daily."
So they want to shove Christianity down people's throats every day. How patriotic. Not that I would expect anything else from the FRC.
Seriously? People are this worked up over a few words?
Sounds like someone who needs to pay more attention to their own life and stop obsessing over some supposed slight that they perceive in a programming decision that was made with regard to the timing of the piece not the religious content.
Is anyone really surprised that a Christian group is ignoring a Christian value (forgiveness) in order to get exposure?
Unfortunately, there are some Christians who do not do what Christ told them to do. When Jesus said to forgive people, He meant anybody for anything.
Except for those who blaspheme the holy spirit, that is unforgivable. I deny god, jesus and the holy spirit is the crow outside my window. oh well.
First of all, it's not appropriate to comment on christian values if one isn't willing to openly admit being a christian aswell as practicing christian lifestyle. I do openly admit it. I am a christian. I, personally, believe that Jesus, is the Christ, the only begotten Son of God the Father, and his Father is the only true living God. With that said, true christians care about everyone's welfare and especially their souls. They have an obligation to, "be their brother's keeper.." and that is what the issue with the omission of "under God" is all about. Jesus complained when people stood in the way of people wanting know God personally. He said, and I paraphrase, You do not enter and you prevent those who wish to enter from doing so. This is the main issue and FRC, "Family Research Council" knows a threat to someone's spiritual welfare when they see it. It's a noble cause that is very unapparent to many. When a sculpture is created, it is chipped away, piece by piece until all that is left is what the person holding the hammer wants people to see. The article states that the vice president of communications said that it was a small group of people who made the decison to edit the pledge of allegance and that it was a bad decison. Sure, it was a bad decison when people who truly reverance God and acknowledge His Deity are bold enough to stand their ground opposing those who edit out the acknowldegement of God in America's Society. It might be just a small chip that was being chipped away, but it was a very important one when it concerns freedom of religion, faith, traditional values, and more and most importantly, the counterproductive attempt to reshape society by chipping away at this nation's established Godly traditional values. This isn't about unforgivness, it's about standing up for righteousness because of love for God and hopeful well being our fellowman. Christians don't take issue with people. Christians take issue with spiritual oppression which this is and should demand the acknowledgement of God in the Pledge of Allegance. I'm quite confident had the apology had included, we apologize for this unintended offense and have taken measures to prevent such offensive and inappropriate actions in the future. The issue would have been resolved, then and there.
I am guessing like the bible, most christians know very little of the true history of the pledge.
.
Mindless schizophrenic sheep putting their faith in men who tell them what truth to believe.
My uncle is schizophrenic, and even he's not THIS crazy.
@ColinO.
I hope your family has good medical coverage that covers your uncle's treatment.
Who the hell cares what the Family Research Council thinks? No seriously, who does?
@Bobinator
Well said!
Cheers!
That was my first thought lol
.
Sounds like more more schizophrenics foaming at the mouth.
I certainly prefer the 1953 version.
I would prefer something written with a more rational expression of allegience, myself.
Hear! Hear!
I agree and what are these are these people researching anyway? do they use that to get some form of tax break?
@EvolvedDNA
Just like I've always wondered what exactly the Discovery Inst.itute has discovered....