The United States of America, and god.
Note: from here on forward this post may be considered rude and offensive against the great nation of the United States of America. Proceed at own risk.
The people that run it, though, can't make up their minds. It's this scary religion thing that's always up their arse. Now now, Pagan boy, that's a bold statement! Yup. Look here. First amendment, copied directly from usconstition.net:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
So there will be no law that forces a person to jump on a specific religion-wagon. Great. I am all in favour of that, as I don't do gods and goddesses. But now there's something odd. Have a look at the Pledge of Allegiance:
"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
Whoops? Under God? Which one? The Christian one? The Muslim one? Any of the Pagan gods? (In which case there is a host of Pagan goddesses ready to picket against that one.) Whoa there, Pagan boy, the first Amendment is something of Congress, remember? Yup again. Just have a wee peek at the source of this Pledge quote: Wikipedia. Don't laugh, I trust Wikipedia, especially in things like this. I am certain there are plenty of Americans who with reason guard the validity this sort of stuff that deals with the emotional heart of their nation and patriotism. And what do we find:
The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States is an expression of loyalty to the federal flag and the republic of the United States of America, originally composed byFrancis Bellamy in 1892 and formally adopted by Congress as the pledge in 1942.
Does this look odd in a way? The law says you don't have to do religion, or do what you can. If you pledge allegiance to the flag however, there's suddenly some god involved. When we look at the previous version (the current one is the fourth revision of 1954), we see:
"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands; one Nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all."
Hey, no god here! I wonder where that suddenly popped in from when the law of Congress still says there's no god stuff happening. On the wikipage you can find: "The phrase "under God" was incorporated into the Pledge of Allegiance June 14, 1954, by a Joint Resolution of Congress amending §7 of the Flag Code enacted in 1942."
Ah... right. In one place they tell the world that America is free of religious impact, and in another place they sneak it in anyway. Way to go. Of course you can always refuse to pledge allegiance to the flag. I'm not sure how bad that would be though.