On Sept. 14, a federal judge in San Francisco declared the pledge of allegiance unconstitutional due to the phrase “under God.” This ruling delighted scores of atheists and agnostics in San Francisco and might have future implications for approximately 29 million adult Americans, who consider themselves without religion.

The pledge of allegiance was written in 1892 and officially recognized by the government of the United States in 1942 without explicit reference to God. However, in 1954 religious legislators became worried that the pledge sounded too much like a communist sermon. Fearing an atomic war with the Soviets, President Dwight D. Eisenhower directed a change in the pledge to read, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” This pledge is now recited in schools all over the nation. But in recent years, the reference to a God in the pledge has been a cause for protest from atheists and agnostics.

The debate over the pledge intensified in 2002, when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that reciting the pledge of allegiance in public schools is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion, ruling in favor of an atheist parent who sued the school district in which his daughter was enrolled. But the Supreme Court dismissed the case in 2004 on a technicality, never addressing the constitutional question.

For the most part, I consider myself semi-religious to the point where I have no problems reciting the pledge of allegiance. However, while my belief in the presence of a superpower called God does not call for reconsidering of the Pledge, somebody else’s lack of faith does.

America is the land of the free, where people are free to choose a religion or not to choose one at all. And while some do not necessarily agree with radically reshaping history to the whims of a few, their reasoning deserves consideration. When we pledge allegiance to the United States of America, we pledge to this soil that has given us so much, to our flag that makes us proud, to our sacred constitution in which the framers’ ideals of equality and justice are expressed and to the diverse populace of this nation, without who the American charter would not be the same. As citizens of this country, our constitution should be our Bible, our Torah and Quran. In our constitution it is expressly stated about separation of powers and checks and balances. While separation of powers indeed involves separation of the branches of government, it also involves a separation of Church and State.

The phrase ‘under God’ creates ambiguity for atheists and agnostics. While they are proud to maintain their allegiance to their country, they ask why they should pledge allegiance to something they do not believe in. Even though I might believe in God, who am I to enforce my beliefs on a multitude of people? Some would say, “If you don’t believe it, ignore it.” Is it that easy? If a Catholic, a Jew or a Muslim was asked to acknowledge the existence of a Hindu god in school every day, I am quite sure that would not sit well with them.

While I understand opponents’ arguments to this change, let us consider the plight of this minority and resolve this dispute amicably and equitably. Is it a pain that different groups are coming up with their own demands and asking to rewrite history? Yes. Are we undermining tradition by challenging what our wise predecessors sought? Maybe, but that isn’t such a bad thing. History has been rewritten so many times to incorporate differing and new emerging ideals.

Maybe what we need to do is stop enforcing a stereotype of “normal” and start looking out for the rights of those that reject “normality'” as a part of their lives.