Pledge of Allegiance vs. Constitution?

[UnderseaLcpl]

For all practical purposes, the Pledge of Allegiance is not in contradiction with the United States Constitution for two main reasons.

1) It is not a criminal act to refuse to recite the pledge, nor is the pledge mandated anywhere outside some very specific state laws.

2) It requires only that one pledge allegiance to the ensign of the US and the Republic it represents. The remaining terms are descriptors, none of which indicates that by pledging allegiance to the US you are pledging allegiance to God; only that you are pledging allegiance to a nation that is under God. A nation governed by a constitution which allows no abridgement of your rightful freedom to start or choose or not choose a religion. Those are very different things.

Most of the opposition to the pledge comes from people who don't want any mention of God made anywhere, or who are of the (quite justified) assumption that the term refers to a Judeo-Christian God. In these cases, people aren't so much against the pledge itself as they are against supporting what they see as a meme to propagate beliefs they oppose. I suppose I can understand that. I've never been a big fan of the pledge myself, albeit for different reasons.

In any case, the pledge is not unconstitutional.

edit- "uh-oh, Frau's here"
Um... I'm on a horse!