A Perspective on the Pledge

the long version

This book looks at the reasons commonly offered in defense of 'under God' and shows why no fair and just person of any religion would accept it. It does so by looking at a hypothetical country where its citizens have adopted a pledge of allegiance to 'one white nation' - because it was founded by white people. Through this story, we meet Shawn Henry. He is a high school junior who will show us how this modification to the Pledge suggests that failure to support 'one white nation' is made comparable to failure to support a nation 'with liberty and justice for all'. In doing so, it creates a climate of hostility that denigrates and degrades the contributions of good citizens. It then looks at the major arguments in defense of the pledge, and shows how no fair and just person could support it.