The fact you would make children take an oath of loyalty is barbaric. Oaths symbolize obligations accepted by adults, in return for solemn promises made by them to those administering the oath. You don't make people promise to do things unless you expect to honor solemn commitments to them.

I always kept my mental fingers crossed when I took the "Pledge of Allegiance", because I recognized those who made me promise had no right to do so. I owed them nothing. I understood this even as a child, not because I had been taught that way, but because I knew when I was being conned. I could recognize child abuse when I saw it.

This did not mean I was disloyal to my country. I wasn't, and I had every intention of being loyal to it. I just didn't need some smug jackass forcing me to be loyal, ESPECIALLY if some redneck peckerhead felt the need to drag the Allfuckingmighty into the transaction.

I've only taken three oaths in my life that I did so willingly: My marriage oath, my oath to the constitution when I enlisted in the military, and my oath to honor my country's confidence when I accepted my responsibilities to work with classified data. I knew up front what I was getting, and what I was obligated to in return. And it was done freely, when I had the choice to reject it.

The Pledge of Allegiance is like the loyalty oath to the Fuhrer. It is pure coercion. Its the sort of extortion administered by tyrannies, Nazi and Communist, and not to be countenanced by free men..

And you're right, God has nothing to do with it. The religious element, as Pod points out, wasn't even added until the Eisenhower era.