Slight break in pledge would give no one pause

Let's assume, as we probably can, that a higher court will overturn the recent California federal court decision that the Pledge of Allegiance cannot be recited in public schools because the phrase "under God" is unconstitutional.

The reference to the deity has been in the pledge since 1954 and it's likely to stay there.

This, of course, will upset people who, however patriotic, don't consider this a nation "under God" and don't want to declare it one in the pledge. Can't something be done for them?

As such a person, I long ago came up with a quiet, personal solution to the pledge problem. Now that the fireworks are over, I'll describe it here (not that it's complicated) as part of a modest proposal to educators who would like to be sensitive to Americans' diversity of beliefs.

I propose that we instruct students to memorize the pledge as we always have, with the words "under God" included. We should then explain that (as the pledge points out) America is free and that people may worship, or not, as they see fit.

Then let's teach children how to recite the pledge without mentioning God, and without disturbing anyone who does.

We can do this in musical terms, by asking students to take a two-beat rest between the words "one nation" and "indivisible":

. . . and to the republic, for which it stands, one nation (rest, rest), indivisible, with liberty . . .

While the believers say "under God," the nonbelievers will rest. With funding for arts education all but eliminated in many school districts, we could congratulate ourselves for supplementing the music curriculum.

For me, taking this two-beat rest amounts to a brief and private moment of silence, which after all is what nonbelievers are always asking for. This way I can get to "liberty and justice for all" without compromising my beliefs or asking others to compromise theirs.

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