The addition of the line “Under God” to the American Pledge of Allegiance was quite clever. It gives atheists/agnostics a choice between refusing to go with the crowd by proclaiming a belief they don’t hold or joining with their community in proclaiming their patriotism and loyalty to the nation. Effectively, one either puts on a scarlet ‘H’ teeshirt to proclaim their hypocrisy or put on the striped hat of disloyalty.
There are different ways to avoid the conflict of values. One can keep your beliefs hidden and be a closet hypocrite. One could could appear ‘militant’ and challenge the use of the pledge. One could simply avoid aspects of social life where the pledge is used: Boys Scouts, public service/community meetings, patriotic sex parties etc.
All of these options have the benefit of maintaining a distance between believers and infidel, either socially or physically (like I said, clever). And in the end, isn’t keeping people divided what religion, government and patriotic sex parties are all about?
