As one who learned the Pledge the old way and rejects the gratuitous insertion of religion inro it, I have been reciting it a couple of times a month at meetings with a calculated pause while others say 'nder god', much as I pause while the sopranos hit the high notes in the Star Spangled Banner.

I appreciated Spaw's link to Dr. John Baer's short history of the Pledge, but felt the need to take him up on his offer of more information. I want to know when and how Congress got involved in teh first place: is there some law that makes the Pledge and its wording official and legal, which has now been declared illegal, even if only temporarily? Or was it just a resolution that isn't enforceable? Isn't it just the specific school's policy and practice that's beem found unconstitutional?

I hope no one hase to worry about being arrested for saying the Pledge any more than any one had to be worried about not saying it last week.