Pledge of Allegiance

Recent polls show President Donald J. Trump with an approval rating hovering around 39 percent, but there’s one place he can always go to get a whole lot of love: Liberty University.

President Donald Trump had a lot to say this morning at the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual gathering in Washington, D.C., that is sponsored by the evangelical Fellowship Foundation and typically brings together the president, members of Congress and other dignitaries for a series of meetings and meals.

Editor’s Note: Liz Hayes is Americans United’s new assistant director of communications. In this blog post, she explains what motivated her to want to work for Americans United.

I was born, raised and worked as a journalist for nearly 15 years in western Pennsylvania in the suburbs of Pittsburgh – the politically purple borderlands where liberalism drains into the conservative rural vastness that smears the center of the state red.

Earlier this month, I wrote a blog about some extreme opinions towards Colin Kaepernick refusing to stand during the National Anthem. Last week, another disturbing story emerged.

Why did Donald Trump, a real estate mogul and reality TV star with no political experience, decide to run for president?

We have no shortage of theories. Some say Trump wanted free publicity to boost his sagging personal brand. Others assert it was all a stunt to launch a new cable TV channel. Still others insist Trump jumped in to shake things up and have a little fun, never expecting to actually win the Republican nomination.

Now Trump’s son Eric has put forth a new theory: His father was upset because the White House Christmas tree was renamed a “holiday tree.”

I was perusing the Sunday New York Times yesterday when a name on the obituary page jumped out at me: Lillian Gobitas.

Gobitas died Aug. 22 at age 90. The name may not mean much to you unless you’re a student of church-state history, but we all owe her a debt.

A spat over a high school student’s decision to opt out of the Pledge of Allegiance has been favorably resolved. The administrators of Southside High School in Elmira, N.Y., have agreed to allow a student to sit during the Pledge in response to a letter from the American Humanist Association (AHA).

When I was a kid, I recited the Pledge of Allegiance in school. By rote, obediently. Elementary school days of hand-over-heart and guileless allegiance.

Then middle school rolled around. It became less cool, sure, but still unchallenged. It was patriotic at least, during a post-9/11 time when car flags flew in unison.

But in response to the intercom’s summons most high school mornings, I stayed quiet. When I lacked the resolve, I admit I moved my lips. Muscle memory, maybe. Or was it social? Either way, it was my silent protest.

As we head into the long weekend in celebration of the birth of our country, it’s a good time to remember how lucky we are that our Constitution guarantees us so many rights and freedoms.

One of these freedoms, of course, is the option to choose what faith to believe in, or to believe in nothing at all. Our Constitution protects and welcomes everyone, whether you are Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu or an atheist.