http://cptv.vo.llnwd.net/o2/ypmwebcontent/Chion/Colin%20McEnroe%20Show%2012-02-2011.mp3
The Pledge of Allegiance is a 20th century creature. It was written at the end of the 19th century by a Christian socialist minister as part of a general push toward American nationalism, with special regard for the flag. I find people all the time who think it dates back to the founding of the United States. The phrase "under God" was added in the 1950s. There are all kinds of stores about how and why that happened. I think it's fair to sum it up as kind of a Cold War thing. The Soviets were godless. We weren't.
The Supreme Court ruled in 1943 that public school students could not be required to say that pledge. The Court referred to it as "compulsory unification of opinion," a phrase I rather like.
Now the University of Connecticut is adding the pledge to the national anthem before Huskies games. It's one of the topics for today's Nose.
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