jrhessey Wrote:Aethists have a God... whether it is money or sex or whatever it is that an aethist worships, that is their god. Every religion has a God... Where in the Pledge of Allegiance does it say the christian God?? Where in the Pledge of Allegiance does it say under the only God?? It doesn't... It says under God, thats your God, their God, and/or my God.
I agree that atheists do have a god. Well, more specifically they have faith. Their faith in the concept of no-god is as strong as the theist's faith in God.
I'll also claim here that Christains have more than one God. They have Yahweh, Christ and/or the Trinity but in addition to these deities, Christains worship money, death, sports, drugs, sex, TV, food, drink, and a variety of other sinful things.
And to fully proclaim my position on the pledge--I don't pledge allegiance to anything, not a flag, not a god, nor any persons (well except my employer and I do that out of fiduciary expediency). To pledge allegiance to a flag is a self-defacing act. It says you are subservient to a piece of cloth (an inanimate object) and I can't think of any more of a meaningless act. I mean, if you pledge your allegiance to a flag and then wave another flag (say the Vietnamese flag) will the U.S. flag come and kick your arse?
This doesn't mean I hate my country, actually, I love my country. I have to because my country has done so much for me, namely, helping me pay for college so I'll have to work the rest of my life to pay the loans. My country taxes me at an outrageous rate so I'll have to work harder and harder to keep up with it all. I love my country because my government is in cahoots with the insurance companies and I'll have to pay them some dough too!
I love my country and I love the fact we can say fock you to these friggen Christains and Mormons when the come knocking on your door.
The act of a pledge is meaningless and in Catholic school, I never had to say the Pledge. We prayed before class and we prayed before kicking arse on the football field too!