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"Three weeks after I first moved to the United States with my family, and one week into our American public school adventures, my youngest daughter asked me, 'Mummy, did you know that we pray to the flag every morning at school?'
"Any discussion of an American 'civil religion' needs to take account not only of history and of ideology, but of the religious rituals that surround our secular cult. Walk into many public elementary schools in America a few minutes after the opening bell, and you will know: we already have an established religion in this country, and its graven image is the flag. Our youngest child recognized it right away."
-- Rev. Rosalind C. Hughes, "What American Flag-Worship Looks Like To A New Citizen", 2017-07-12
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It took me a bit of time to puzzle out what the heck we are saying, because there are some tricky words in there, but I was pretty horrified when I did.
In the totalitarian regime I had then recently escaped we had our patriotic rituals, but most of they were not daily at school. (We had some pseudo-military salutey and slogan-shoutey stuff for opening and closing of the year and special occasions). But even in summer camp where we did have a daily affirmation ritual it did not involve swearing loyalty. The allegedly free country demanding a more regular and frankly more demanding show of patriotism was a bit of cognitive dissonance I was not prepared for.
We were required to stand for it, but did not have to recite. I refrained, but by the one time when it actually mattered, at my naturalization ceremony where it may have been appropriate, all the meaning had been worn out from it.
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