The irate parent dragged me out of class just before the daily flag ceremony.
    "I don't want my child saying the Pledge of Allegiance with those words in it," she complained.
    What we teachers have to put up with!  Ever since the recent court ruling, there have been more incidents like this.  It seems a bit whiny to me.
    "What's wrong with the words?" I asked.
    "They imply a government endorsement of a certain world view," she said.
    "I don't see it that way," I replied. "The words are a very general statement that the great majority of people accept, regardless of their specific beliefs."
    "And what about the minority that thinks differently?" she countered. "Isn't this country supposed to defend the rights of the minority?"
    "The Pledge is an American tradition," I pointed out. "Removing those words runs counter to that tradition."
    "Only about 50 years of tradition," she claimed. "The words to the Pledge change every 30 to 50 years."
    "But the current version is the only one in recent living memory," I explained reasonably. "Besides, it gets children thinking early about the nature of the universe."
    "Your idea about the nature of the universe," she carped.
    "Look," I cajoled, "what do we have to gain by taking those words out?  What's so bad about including them?"
    "Then what's so bad about excluding them?" she snapped.
    "You know," I continued reasonably, "our ancestors came to this country to exercise freedom of thought.  That's what this is about."
    "You bet it is!" she snarled.
    "But wait," I said. "They're reciting the Pledge now.  Let's listen ..."

"... one nation, in a Darwinian world, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

    The Christians are the whiniest.