Pledge of Allegiance in your Country?

[CaptainF]

i'm surprised that only America seems to have one.

Why is this? Why make children recite some empty patriotic babble? Let them decide for themselves if they like their country.

 

[FreeTerminus]

In preschool and 1st grade, I remember, what we used to do every day was pledge to the flag...One student would be selected to "lead the class". Afterward, we'd sing 1-2 patriotic songs ("My country tis of thee..." etc) every single day. I eventually got sick of it and stopped singing

In 5th grade, every Friday, we used to have "singing days" where all we did for an hour was sing patriotic songs...That too got old really quick.
I think it is a little creepy that we are nominaly required to recite the pledge each day (especially in an environment where you think everyone woul dbe taught to think for themselves), but the Wiki article did point out something interesting: Because of the words "Under god", when you recite the pledge (assuming you are an atheist), your "pledge" isn't valid: You are pledging to a republic under God. However, there is no God, and hence no republics under God, hence you are pledging to something nonexistent.

 

[.Shane.]

What no one's mentioned is that the pledge didn't even exist until the early 1900s. And, the "one Nation under God" part was added in the 50s just to show those godless commies who's who.

 

[History_Buff]

If we set fire to the Queen, I guess manslaughter might be involved, so it's slightly heavier.

Well, if you set fire to the Queen, she would probably die, making it Regicide, which is probably treasonous.

As for the American P of A, was "under God" always in the pledge, or was it added later? Someone gave the impression it was added.

EDIT: Seems my question was answered while I typed it/wikied stuff

 

[Gladi]

Bright day
In Czechia we don't have one.

And at least in one high school in WV people recite it in 21st century. Actually there were few students that were angry that I didn't recite it with them (thankfully teacher was on their asses before I got out of schock).

 

[Louis XXIV]

Well, I checked Wikipedia and, apparently, Singapore has one also. Not sure what that says if the only two countries are the United States and Singapore.

 

[pboily]

Sometimes I wish Quebec would become sovereign and then you let us join you so that we can become sovereign too.

hehehehe...

 

[Che Guava]

Maybe someday when we dump the monarchy we can have our own pledge of allegiance:

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the Dominion of Canada,
or, barring that, the fleur-de-lys, the union jack,
or whatever you're comfortable with,
and to The Republic for which they likely stand,
one Nation under a God of your choice,
indivisible except by referendum,
with healthcare for all.

 

[Perfection]

Good anecdote:
I recall my Physics teacher asking the German foriegn-exchange student a similar question, to which he replied "Not since 1945".

We had weekly pledges at my high school, which I did not participate in (unlike the vast majority of the student body).

 

[nonconformist]

Nope, but we had to say prayers in the morning in Primary School.
I'm pretty happy to have gotten out of that.