Rivera blunder? Pledge of Allegiance at Anchorage Assembly goes without “under God”

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The people running the city of Anchorage have taken another step in a controversial direction. The man invited to lead the Pledge of Allegiance on Tuesday left out the portion “under God.”

Many in the audience noticed the omission by Ivan Hodes, who was invited by Chairman Felix Rivera to lead the pledge. Hodes, who works at the Military Enlistment Processing Station (MEPS), attended West Point, and moved to Alaska to serve at Fort Richardson. He says he left the military in 2007.

When Rivera took over as Assembly Chair, he began the tradition of the “land acknowledgement” as an opening statement before the meeting. It’s unclear why Rivera asked Hodes, a known leftist and frequent social media critic, to lead the Pledge of Allegiance during a time when public scrutiny is centered on the actions of the Assembly.

47 COMMENTS

    • At least we now have some Patriots with a sense of duty to our constitution. A continued clear separation of church and state is important, or we just become another world theocracy like Iran.

  1. Sometimes It feels like Americans are living under Idols more than living under God.
    We cant expect anything better coming from these 9 out 11, if they never known anything better.

  2. Suzanne, I’m astounded that you would try to be inflammatory…perhaps you didn’t mean to be. Any educated person knows those words were not part of the pledge of allegiance until 1954. There is nothing wrong with leaving the words out or saying them. Why would we persecute those who don’t have the same religious beliefs…right?

    • You’re surprised the author is allegedly inflammatory so you respond with snark and your own inflammatory comments.

      For example: any “educated” person knows Alaska became a state in 1959, so using your logic the flag should only have 48 stars.

      • And you respond by using the name, Karen, snarkily and following up with your own inflammatory comments.
        Somehow we as a nation managed to get through two world wars without “under God” in our pledge. I imagine we could handle most other onslaughts, except, possibly, for a zealous attempt to impose a national cult under which we would all be free to exercise out religious beliefs, or lack thereof, so long as they adhered to whatever the current catechism might be.
        Perhaps we have come to the point where we are living under idols who are masquerading as God. I’m not seeing a lot of what I was taught is Christian charity being practiced nowadays.

    • You are correct the words were added, June 14, 1954, by a Joint Resolution amending a section of the Flag Code. By doing this Congress created the Pledge of Allegiance that is recited by Americans today.
      This change was advocated for by then President Dwight D. Eisenhower. An educated person would know of Eisenhower’s exploits and service to this country. In advocating for the change Eisenhower declared that it would “reaffirm the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future”.
      Dare I say that Ike is probably spinning in his grave at what the Country has become.
      An educated person would also be able to ascertain that there is nothing inflammatory in the article. An educated person would also understand that the act of omitting the words by Mr. Hodes is most certainly an error of commission, by an individual who works at the Military Enlistment Processing Station (MEPS).
      Perhaps reading comprehension is not one of your strong suits Karen K.

    • Persecution? You should look in the mirror. Why do you have a problem with the Pledge of Allegiance that is a source of inspiration for a nation of freedom loving people? The godless left are attempting a coup of this nation and its heritage which is based on God’s principles from the Holy Bible. People know from history what happens to a nations citizens that allow godless men to attack their faith and values. Suzanne is just stating the obvious and apparently you support godless fanatics. We do not!

      • Most persecution is religious. Most is imposed by one religious order upon another.
        The nation was not established as a Christian nation. The Constitution prohibits the making of laws, “…respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” People know from history what happens to a nation’s citizens that allow religious sects and fanatics to attack them. It’s called tribalism, and it’s everywhere. Mostly, we Americans have avoided it, but I fear for our future if believers of any religion attempt to impose their God on our nation.

    • Its more of a matter of the “pledge” being part of at least 4+ generations of Americans since Eisenhower placed “One Nation, Under God” into the pledge, which was then “adopted” or it wouldn’t exist at all to be squabbled about and would have long fallen to the wayside like all socialist and communist propaganda agenda paraphernalia of that time (and all current propaganda should be as well). If People don’t want to say the “Pledge,” then don’t. The argument of the nonsense of this garbage is what drowns out ANY semblance of intelligence peaking through on either “side” of this wasteful fools errand while actual crimes are being committed on all levels in the US government and beyond.

    • Karen as any educated person knows…..Traditional methods means everything. Come on Man 1954, that is way older than most people in Alaska. So if that is how most of us were raised, then it is important.
      Further if your beliefs do not allow you to correctly recite the Pledge of Allegiance then WHY were you asked in front of an Official Body to recite it?
      This was no blunder it was by design.

    • Herhile you are 100% correct about the words being added in 1954, your logic is terribly flawed. You see, Francis Bellamy wrote the Pledge without “under God” and without “of the United States of America” because he proposed it generically to be used by any country. He also proposed the “Bellamy salute” which was later dropped because Nazis took up a similar hand gesture in the 1940s. Prior to that, American school children performed the Bellamy Salute while reciting the pledge. We added “Under God” later to invoke the spirit that inspired and underpinned our republic in an effort to fight Communism, which making a significant comeback in the States today. We’ve adapted our pledge twice to confront our enemies. Now our enemies, who surely know this history, attack it and we don’t even understand why.

  3. Thank you Karen. You are exactly right. The original wording was officially adopted by Congress on June 22, 1942 during WWII.

    “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

    Noble words for all Americans.

    • Why was “under God” added by Congress?

      a few reason

      The NAZI in Germany sang songs about Germany being over all.

      Another reason, Marxists hate the idea of God and believe government should take the place of God.

      Our country is founded on this :
      “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

      Our rights come from God not government. Rivera and other neo liberals believe they are the source of our rights.

      • Well, you jump to an unsupported conclusion here, that Creator is the same as God. And is that Creator only your God? How about Muslims? Buddhists? Hindus?
        If you say your god is the only god, then you belong to a cult.
        And, no, our freedoms are given to us by the government under which we live, and we damned well better watch out for them or some authoritarian buffoon, along with his rabid minions, is going to take them away from us.

  4. Karen? How about “One nation under…you know, the thing” Would that be more traditional and hint at our founding documents better?

  5. Under God may not have been added until 1954, but it was added, and is the correct way of reciting it. This was another intentional insult from the Assembly to the Public!

    • We get it that you don’t like those “they” but such strong language.
      Are you sure they aren’t merely communists? Heheh!

  6. Probably best too leave the negative comments alone on this. Under God is currently part of our pledge as a country. You can choose not to agree with it but you can’t rewrite it. All the author was doing was reporting the news and leaving it up to us to come up with our own opinion.

  7. A ‘known leftist’ and Westpoint graduate, who’s father was a clerk for a Supreme Court Justice. Sounds like he’s someone to whom we all should be listening, and with gratitude. Americans citizens are all invited say the Pledge of Allegiance, that’s why.

  8. Karen, because since 1954 those words have been tradition. Let’s leave out the oath to take office serve in the military or the oath where in the court room. Might as well add weddings vows. Just leave out portions of all those traditions.

    • Weddings, strictly speaking, are civil, not religious, ceremonies. You can do it at the court house. It’s a legal contract.

  9. Ivan Hodes, should be Ivan Chodes, the guy is nothing more than a left wing stalker harassing conservatives on FB and apparently at these assembly meetings as well. He is a piss poor representation of our military.

    • This is the same dude who yelled and called a woman in the doorway the “C” word as he entered the assembly chambers, and then went up to Assemblywoman Allard and started berating her before the meeting. Can’t believe he was teaching our students.

      • Apparently his time in the military didn’t teach him about respect, one of these days he’s going to say something disrespectful to the wrong person and it will be to his detriment. .

  10. Uh, yeah, because they hate Him.

    These little Riddles aren’t really that complicated. The left hates God, it hates you, and it hates liberty. If you haven’t guessed it yet, they have a defining characteristic..

  11. This was no blunder, this was premeditated. These communist thinking elected officials hate our republic, constitution and God. Wake up ANC.

  12. Might as well take out “One Nation” too… Please forgive the snarky sarc – the intolerance and deceit from the left is beyond comprehension.

  13. There are few more conservative than am I on most issues but I was uncomfortable with the addition of “under God” when I was in sixth grade and I remain so today. Even in sixth grade it didn’t feel right to force the non-religious (or people of other than Christian faith) to be required to recite the “new” words. We were taught America was a melting pot where all were welcome to worship as they chose or chose not to.

    Maybe that’s when the wheels started to fall off. A small step but seized upon by those would destroy all this once free nation stood for.

    I cherish my right to worship and defend the right of all others to follow their conscience. When their rights are taken everyone’s rights are under threat.

  14. This was not a blunder, but an act of a petulant child that has their plaything possibly taken from them, within this case said plaything being a perception of power.

    It is really as simple as that.

    A pathetic attempt to take their ball and go home, thus preventing, within their own mind, the ability of everyone else to continue to play the ‘game’, which, is a pathetic endeavor, to say the least, as the remaining players can easily find another ball within which to play, and complete the ‘game’, as it were…

    Each of us, every individual, lives within an individual identity, an individual ideology that self supports our existence within this realm, and most of us keep said self existence unto ourselves, within a live and let live continuance of life, and then their are those such as the petulant children within our supposed ‘leaders’ that willfully espouse their own weakness as somehow powerful, that promote their ineffectual existence as a somehow show of strength through a perceived accommodation of thought with others because they cannot stand upon their own processes, and never shall…

    I am sorry for them, because they shall never be complete within themselves, but merely a shadow lacking completion as an individual, and shall never be whole, no matter how many may supposedly support them as hive minded drones….

  15. You have to remember that the Bible was written by men with flaws and left out many books that probably should have been included in the Bible but the day and age just wouldn’t allow it. Like they left out the part about Lilith and how she went against Adam because she wanted to be on top during sex. She didn’t bow down to men. Apparently she was way ahead of the bra burning days of the 1960s. They left out the part about Noah getting raped by his son because he dare go to sleep in the raw. Fortunately they included the part about Ezekiel seeing aliens. I don’t fear God I respect him as the supreme being. We should be afraid of rattlesnakes, the Chinese and the New world order.

  16. In God We Trust in the United States Motto as well as on Florida’s flag. Get over it or take scissors and cut that part off your cash money. By doing so you are breaking the law though.

  17. In the end, its about the following.
    .
    “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”–2Chron7:14

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