Fr. Robert Barron on the "Pledge of Allegiance" controversy; meaning of Sabbath

Many excellent points made by the director of the Word on Fire apostolate:

And then there is this recent story, from the very town I've lived in for many years now:

An Oregon town's City Council voted down a proposal to say the Pledge of Allegiance before every council meeting, but later passed a compromise that seemed to make no one happy.

The approved measure allows the pledge to be recited at just four Eugene City Council meetings a year, those closest to the Fourth of July, Veterans Day, Memorial Day and Flag Day.

It was supposed to be simple, but Councilman Mike Clark soon found out when you're dealing with God and country, nothing in Eugene is easy.

Clark says all he wanted to do was unite the council and show his more conservative constituents that in this city where diversity is celebrated, their more traditional values also are important.

"It's a little ironic to see those who have championed the idea of tolerance be less tolerant on this question," Clark said. Mayor Kitty Piercy called the Pledge of Allegiance divisive. "If there's one thing the flag stands for," Piercy says, "it's that people don't have to be compelled to say the Pledge of Allegiance or anything else."

Ah, I am [sarcasm alert!] soooooo proud of the mayor! Standing up the puritanical, close-minded right-wingers who want to force her to say the Pledge of Allegiance at city council meetings in the United States!  Oddly enough, Piercy is a huge supporter of public schools, which compel children to say and do things every school day, including learning about how wonderful it is to be "queer" and "trans-gendered". Piercy is also big on taking "non-divisive" stances for abortion—she has worked in the past for both Planned Barrenhood and NARAL—medical pot, "same-sex marriage", public restrooms for transgendered folks, and so forth (pick an ultra-leftist stance; she holds it). So this really has nothing to do with being divisive at all; that's just a typical leftist smokescreen.

What, exactly, is "divisive" about saying the Pledge of Allegiance? Is it too patriotic? Too idealistic? Too religious? The Fox News articles claims, rather unconvincingly, that it has little to do with religious issues (that is, saying "under God"):

In Eugene, the opposition was less about religion than anti-establishment.

Resident Anita Sullivan summed up a common viewpoint: "So you say I pledge allegiance and right there I don't care for that language," Sullivan says. "It sort of means loyalty to your country; well, I feel loyalty to the entire world."

Brilliant, Anita, brilliant. Recite the following: "I pledge allegiance to the firmament of the entire world, and to the global village for which it stands, one planet in outer space, very divided, with liberty for a few and justice for a few others." Take it to the streets, sister, starting in Iraq and Iran, then moving on to Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. Hurry along!