The Pledge of Allegiance: How to Take a Stand, Part II

Henry Family,

I’m sorry I misunderstood your original question.

I wish I had a solid, personal example to give you, unfortunately, I do not. My children are young and we are not big sports fans, so we do not go to many games. I do understand what you are dealing with however. My stance on NOT voting for George W. Bush has earned me ridicule from Christian friends and co-workers. Similar to your situation, many Christians that I run into on a day to day basis feel that you are not a “good Christian” unless you think Bush is the man for President.

Even though I can not give you a personal example, I can point you to numerous biblical examples of believers standing up for what is right (which is better than my personal opinion anyway):

• Daniel 1: Daniel refuses to break God’s food laws.
• Daniel 3: Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego refuse to worship the golden image.
• Daniel 6: Daniel refuses to stop praying to God and pray only to the King.
• Acts (practically the entire book): The apostles and other believers refuse to stop preaching and teaching the Gospel.
• Others…

You can also read Foxe’s Book of Martyrs for many historical, extra biblical examples.

I am sure that you are familiar with all of these examples, but please know that they are not given lightly. I know it is easy for me to point you to others who have been persecuted for their faith, but these are real people who really lived and really died for their faith. So how does this apply to the Pledge of Allegiance? Christians can not pledge allegiance to the flag for the same reason they can not simply use the phrase “higher power” in place of Jesus. The flag and a “higher power” do not stand for anything except current cultural philosophies. Everything we do is an expression of our religious beliefs.

Besides, when you do not say the Pledge, I'm sure that someone will be bold enough to ask you why, which gives you the opportunity to share the truth (and gives your children the opportunity to see you do it)!