“God started it”
What do you think these quotes (by first graders) are discussing?
“‘God started (it). He made it with his powers.'”
“‘What (it) means is you can tell God you really are liking him and you like him better than other people and you would like love him forever and be in his hands and you know he can take care of you.'”
“‘God started it,’ (Kaia) said, ‘ ’cause he wanted everybody to kinda like pray to him.'”
“‘What it’s all about,’ said Darian Rielly, ‘is about you believe in God, that he’s alive, and that he’s not dead.'”
OK, here’s your answer. They are talking about the Pledge of Allegiance. Yes, that pledge. Bet you didn’t know it was all about loving God and believing in God, hmm? Thought it was just pledging your loyalty to the United States, didn’t you? This article in the Seattle P-I might have been intended to be a silly list of the different ways kids misunderstand and mispronounce “indivisible,” but the interesting part, I think, is how many children think the Pledge is an overt statement of religious belief. Where are they getting this? Is it just because it’s similar in its ritual use to some of the prayers they learn in church or at home, or because of the phrase “Under God,” or what? It strikes me as odd that their responses indicate that they don’t understand even a little bit that the Pledge is about patriotism. Sure, they’re only six, but if they are saying the Pledge in school every day, doesn’t the teacher ever mention why?
As well, there’s another issue here. I suspect the author was trying to be light-hearted in the way she discussed the topic of removing “Under God,” but it comes across as kind of condescending to those who care about whether it should be removed. I bet she gets flamed to high heaven, so to speak, for this.
