I can't agree. The pledge in school, like the anthem at ball games, is more a ritual than a detailed semantic declaration. Its ritual function is to "say" that we may not agree on everything, but at some level we are all in this together. Yes, we have a Constitutional right not to participate in that ritual. But there are lots of ways to express non-conformity that don't erode the sense that we are one nation, indivisible, and that, as Americans, we should aspire to provide liberty and justice for all.

I'm with you on the "under God" part - I stood and recited the pledge, but I often didn't say those words, as I never meant them. Poet Louise Glück, recent Nobelist in literature, was a couple of years ahead of me in high school. Louise got in hot water with the powers that be by writing an article in the school paper protesting "under God." I saw and still see her article as brave and a good use of her First Amendment rights. Not standing during the Pledge or anthem just to prove that you don't have to seems to me a mistake.