This whole flap is very similar to the foofaraw on this board back when flag-flying after September 11 was the issue.

Many people made the valid point that flying a flag or not was not something people should be forced to do.

What was being overlooked was the real issue: the motivations of the far Left in making it a controversy in the first place. The Left is largely anti-American and anti-religion, and makes whatever inroads it can to push this point of view. The pledge issue is like that. The guy who brought the suit and the judges objecting to "under God" are not really being damaged by this phrase, and never thought they were. The objective is to squelch yet one other tiny piece of middle-American values, and with any luck, make the middle-Americans feel guilty for objecting to the cut in the first place.

Many Leftists would be tickled pink to see the Pledge disappear entirely, along with its uncomfortable patriotism, and if you think this isn't next, wait and see. They just don't have a Constitutional excuse to hang it on yet.