Do other countries pledge allegiance to their flags?

[donheld]

I've looked and can't find any other pledges. Anyone know who else does this sort of ritual?

[Not_Giving_Up]

1. I don't know

However, I do know that my kids not only say the pledge to the American flag, but to the Texas one as well. I lived in Texas my entire childhood...we never pledged to the Texas flag.

[donheld]

50. Only part of Texas i'd pledge to would be Molly Ivins.

[CanuckAmok]

2. That's funny...

I just had a conversation with an American I work with. I also observed that no other country has a flag pledge, or, afaik, a daily pledge of allegence.

Some of the Commonwealth countries still sing "God Save the Queen" in school every day (we did here when I was a kid, but not anymore), but that's it.

I hope I don't offend any of my DU pals when I say that things like flag pledge are pretty foolish; they remind me of the kinds of Christians who insist on prayer in public; spurious for show only.

I mean, Charles Manson and Tim McVeigh probably knew the flag pledge by heart...

[KitchenWitch]

3. It reeks of the indoctrination of the Hitler Youth

It is definitely propaganda

[Robeson]

5. You don't offend me. I didn't like indoctrination in Nazi Germany....

...and I don't like it here.

[donheld]

6. This DU pal is far from offended

This was just my thought when i posted. To me the pledge seems kind of totalitarian to me, but even, it seems, other totalitarian countries don't seem to say a pledge. It seems kind of like a religious type thing. I know as kids in church we would say a pledge to the bible and Xtian flag.

[CanuckAmok]

12. I didn't know there was a Christian flag.

I find the US flag-fetish pretty weird, and I think that's what might offend some DUers. I mean, all the rules on where to fly it, when not to fly it, how to properly retire (destroy) it... I know there are strong feelings about it on both sides of the US political fence, but it's strange to us forners.

It reminds me of that quote attributed to Napoleon (here paraphrased): I can make a man lay down his life for a tiny scrap of coloured ribbon.

[KitchenWitch]

15. You bet there is a Christian flag

You will find it in the more conservative protestant sects, such as Baptist churches, Assemblies of God churches, etc.

[CanuckAmok]

13. I didn't know there was a Christian flag.

I find the US flag-fetish pretty weird, and I think that's what might offend some DUers. I mean, all the rules on where to fly it, when not to fly it, how to properly retire (destroy) it... I know there are strong feelings about it on both sides of the US political fence, but it's strange to us forners.

It reminds me of that quote attributed to Napoleon (here paraphrased): I can make a man lay down his life for a tiny scrap of coloured ribbon.

[donheld]

16. Here it is.

[Draill]

46. "Onward Christian Soldiers..."

~SHUDDER~ Vacation Bible School flashback, uncool, uncool!

[trof]

33. The author of the pledge was a Christian Socialist.

Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931), a Baptist minister, wrote the original Pledge in August 1892. He was a Christian Socialist. In his Pledge, he is expressing the ideas of his first cousin, Edward Bellamy, author of the American socialist utopian novels, Looking Backward (1888) and Equality (1897).

In 1892 Francis Bellamy was also a chairman of a committee of state superintendents of education in the National Education Association. As its chairman, he prepared the program for the public schools' quadricentennial celebration for Columbus Day in 1892. He structured this public school program around a flag raising ceremony and a flag salute - his 'Pledge of Allegiance.'

His original Pledge read as follows: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag and (to*) the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.' He considered placing the word, 'equality,' in his Pledge, but knew that the state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality for women and African Americans. < * 'to' added in October, 1892. >

In 1923 and 1924 the National Flag Conference, under the 'leadership of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, changed the Pledge's words, 'my Flag,' to 'the Flag of the United States of America.' Bellamy disliked this change, but his protest was ignored.

In 1954, Congress after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, added the words, 'under God,' to the Pledge. The Pledge was now both a patriotic oath and a public prayer.
http://history.vineyard.net/pledge.htm

[kick-ass-bob]

32. They are teaching my daughter the pledge in her preschool.

They also teach it in the public schools. It really feels kind of creepy to me. Why am I pledging my allegiance to some cloth?

I think all Americans know it by heart - whether they want to or not.
:scared:

[JVS]

39. Chuck Manson, Tim McVeigh and almost every other US citizen

[Heidi]

4. This Swiss would be aghast at the mere suggestion. (nt)

[KitchenWitch]

7. The Swiss are among the most open-minded people!

:bounce:

[MissHoneychurch]

8. Germany doesn't

and if we would try it everybody would scream "Nationalism" " A new Third Reich" .... even though if we would want to pledge we wouldn't be allowed.

[Kellanved]

11. With the CSU proposal of signing the anthem before class,

we are not that far away.

[OldEurope]

18. Gott mit Dir, Du Land der Bayern?

Ja, Gott helf uns allen, wenn die dran kommen...

[MissHoneychurch]

21. WHAT ??????????????

you are kidding, right?

[OldEurope]

22. I hope so.

:toast:

[Kellanved]

24. a little

of course the proposal was about singing, not signing. :dunce:

http://shortnews.stern.de/shownews.cfm?id=512069

[MissHoneychurch]

25. and even more the Bayernhymne

:eyes: he sure looked to deep in his Maß

[OldEurope]

27. eh, no, eh, dis is di only ding , eh, he dus , eh, not.

The Stoiberor never ever was caught drinking alcohol.

:toast:

[MissHoneychurch]

28. but he calls his wife Muschi in public

that is even worse :puke:

[OldEurope]

29. How we wish this was the worst thing he did.

These disgusting speeches in the last weeks...

[MissHoneychurch]

30. believe me, I am more than glad he didn't become Kanzler

and I always zap away when he appears on TV.
I have the feeling he gives those speeches that the people won't vote for Merkel and that she isn't becoming Kanzler either. He is envious. Hope it works.

[JVS]

41. I saw him drinking beer on TV during Oktoberfest 2000!

He also shared a story about going to the Fest when he was in his early teens. It seems he had a few beers and went on some rides. The combination of beer and spinning made him puke.

[Kellanved]

49. maybe, mabe not

he is known to drink herb tea topped with milk foam on events where he is supposed to drink beer.

[OldEurope]

9. I have never heard of any other country

where something like this is going on. Not in Europe, I´m sure.
Not even in Denmark, although the Danish swear they got their flag right from heaven.


:D

[Kellanved]

10. Outside of the military? no.

Soldiers in the GDR and in imperial Germany had to swear their allegiance to the flag, the thought of pledges in schools is utterly alien today.

[Robeson]

14. At this point, can I just move to another country.....

...you know, I'm ready to find one I agree with, and not worry about whether it agrees with me...

[billyskank]

17. I always thought pledging allegiance to a flag was a dumb thing to say

It's a symbol. How can you pledge your allegiance to it? You can pledge allegiance to a person, a group or a nation, but a flag? That always struck me as boneheaded. Sorry if that offends anyone.

[huskerlaw]

34. I completely agree

I remember saying the pledge as a child and not understanding why. I even questioned my mom about it, boy was she pissed. But yeah, when you really think about it, pledging allegiance to a flag is pretty stupid.

Although now that I think about it, the pledge does say "and to the republic for which it stands" so there is an element of allegiance to country, rather than just a piece of cloth. But yes, I do still find it obnoxious and pointless.

[Seabiscuit]

47. Bottom line - America has a flag fetish?

The idea of a "pledge" to a symbolic piece of cloth really is pretty weird.

[tjwmason]

19. It would cause hysterics in Britain.

Allegiance here is sworn to the Queen, and even then most folk never do it - it's done when you join the military, enter Parliament, are naturalised as a citizen and maybe a couple of other places.

I think if you told a class of school children to pladge allegiance to the Union Flag they'd tell you to ****-off - including the patriotic ones.

[neweurope]

20. In Germany we don't. I find it disgusting that you teach kids to

pledge allegiance - kids who are not even able to understand what that might entail.
Looks a bit like brainwashing to me.
------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[Arugula Latte]

37. It is disgusting.

We tell our kids they don't have to participate if the teacher leads the class in the stupid pledge.

It's brainwashing at its worst.

Why not have the kids learn something truly patriotic -- like the meaning of freedom of speech? The pledge is another way kids in this country are taught to be mindlessly patriotic and put all their emotion into empty symbols instead of working for positive change.

[wickerwoman]

23. China does.

At least they do at the middle school across from my apartment. They line the kids up every morning on the playground, play the national anthem and then they have to listen to their principal shouting something through a microphone.

Unfortunately, I get to listen to it every morning too. At 7:00 am.

Not sure if this is the kind of company we want to keep though...

[donheld]

48. We get everything else from China

Why not patriotic rhetoric?

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

26. I never had to say the Pledge of Allegiance in grades K through 12 .

Not once in any school that I attended did we have to stand up and say the Pledge of Allegiance .

[Telly Savalas]

31. Where I'm at in Canada

each morning everyone gathers in school gymnasiums where there are candlelit worship ceremonies for the flag. I can't remember the whole pledge, because it's over 20 minutes long (used to be only 10 minutes, but the Official Languages Act requires that it's done in French too.)There's something about the white symbolizing the purity of our patriotism and the red representing the blood of our enemies. On statutory holidays, a goat is sacrificed after the recitation of the pledge.

[Hugin]

35. Good question...

Hopefully, someone can answer.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

36. Brazil: we sang the anthem before class, but that was in the 70s.

They don't do that now.

Neither we do that in sport events, either, with one ridiculous exception: stock car racing. Yep, this is an attempt to ape NASCAR.

[bleedingheart]

38. My cousin from Lithuania found it rather "nationalistic" and "fascist"

that we said the pledge and sung our national anthem so much.

She said that in her country they don't do it very often, but to see that children do it every day here and that every sporting event and even some social events either had the pledge or the anthem...it was bizarre to her.

[Taverner]

40. In Thailand they sing a song to the king

At 6am and 6pm daily. Wherever you are, everything just stops, everyone turns to the speakers, and the loudspeakers everywhere play the song.

[tjwmason]

44. I hope that the king likes that song

I mean if he getting a few million folk singing twice a day, that's a lot of wasted effort if he's only so-so about the tune.

[JVS]

42. My room-mate used to wake up the entire house at 8 am for...

the singing of "Gens du Pays"

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

43. I went to the lycee (high school) in France for one year, many years ago

It was a public school. There was no pledge of allegiance recited in the classroom. There wasn't even a French flag in the classroom. In fact, there was no "home room" where such activities usually occur in America at the beginning of the school day. There were no organized sports teams for the school that played games and thus no national anthem or color guards featured at school events. There might be a pledge to the flag but I never heard one during the year I was there.

[tjwmason]

45. No flags in class-rooms here in England either

In fact the only flags in the entire school were the French, German and Spanish ones (in the classrooms where those languages were taught).

When I was in the VIth form, there was a mini-campaign by the pupils to have a flag-pole erected to fly the Union Flag, but that quickly came to nothing.