Realists do not Recite Pledges
We Refuse State Sponsored Acts of Patriotism
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The Church of Reality discourages its members from participating in national pledges and any state sponsored public pledges of loyalty to the nation-state. Individual members may of course choose to participate if they want to because the Church of Reality's position does not take precedence over individual choice. We do however advise against it for a variety of reasons and we urge our members to consider these reasons when faced with participating in state sponsored acts of national loyalty.
Realists are a free people. We are citizens of the human race. We the people form nation-states for the purpose of creating organization in society so as to serve the interests of the people. Our position is that the nation-state is always subservient and the people are always dominant. A nation-state that requires patriotic acts such as the reciting of a pledge is asserting a position that the state is dominant over the people. That position is incompatible with our Sacred Principle of Freedom, one of our core religious beliefs.
State led acts of patriotism, even when voluntary, undermine our culture, our principles, our way of life. It asserts that the nation state is a super being that has dominion over its people. When the state sponsors public displays of loyalty to itself, it forces through group coercion, a method used to instill cult-like behavior, the individual, to either comply or to be perceived by others that the individual is intentionally not participating. This causes the individual to be subject to group ridicule as people form opinions as to why the individual refuses to participate. This is an invasion of the individual's Right to Privacy in that others might perceived this person as an enemy of the State.
We therefore encourage all Realists to refuse state sponsored patriotic acts, whether seemingly voluntary or coerced, on the basis of religious freedom as a statement that Realists believe in the dominance of the people over the nation-state. We believe that it would be more appropriate for public servants to recite a pledge to the people, to affirm at the start of every work day that they have the wisdom to better serve the people.
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In a United States court case, Russo v. Central School District No. 1, the court made this profound statement that reflects precisely the position of the Church of Reality.
"Patriotism that is forced is a false patriotism just as loyalty that is coerced is the very antithesis of loyalty. We ought not impugn the loyalty of a citizen any more than we ought necessarily to praise the loyalty of a citizen who without conviction or meaning, and with mental reservation, recites the pledge by rote each morning. Surely patriotism and loyalty go deeper than that."
For a Realist to recite state sponsored pledges is an insult to the very freedoms the State supposedly stands for.
A Realist is a Realist because they can not live the lie. State sponsored acts of patriotism are in direct conflict with our Sacred Principle of Honesty. To require a Realist to recite a pledge or to salute a flag is to deny a Realist his religious right to pursue reality as it really is. For a Realist, even a Realist who is truly patriotic, the act of reciting a state sponsored pledge diminishes the patriotic experience because it is not an act of the individual praising the State, but the State praising itself. When the State requires affirmations by its citizens it is an implied admission that the conduct of the State is unworthy of praise on its own merits. So even a Realist who loves the State and is totally loyal to the State is harmed by state sponsored affirmations of loyalty. |
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One of our Sacred Principles is our Principle of Humility. The Principle of Humility is very important to us because it puts us in our place and reminds us of the dangers of self importance. The Principle of Humility is in part a message that the Church of Reality sends to itself. It reminds us that we, as an organization, exist only for the purpose of serving the membership and to advance the interests of humanity and for no other reason. We are a people who strongly value humility and to be coerced by the State to perform an act of self praise is an act against one of our core beliefs and violates our religious liberties. Since we are religiously prohibited from praising our own religion in such a manner, to be required to praise the State is to make us affirm that the State is more important than our deeply held religious beliefs.
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Pledges undermine accountability and scrutiny of the State by the citizen owners of the State. A pledge implies that the citizen will remain loyal to the State regardless of the behavior of the State in the course of its duty to serve the people. This act of state dominance has a chilling affect on those who would stand up to acts of injustice by government and prevent citizens from acting to stop the government from committing illegal acts.
One of the Church of Reality's sacred principles is the Principle of Scrutiny. We are a doubt based religion that believe strongly in scrutiny and accountability. We believe that without accountability we run the risk of corruption and we hold as one of our religious beliefs, that humans make mistakes and that through scrutiny and accountability we can correct those mistakes. It is our position that state sponsored patriotism discourages scrutiny and public criticism and inhibits the nation-state from healing itself. This diminishes the nation and undermines the efforts of true patriots to build an ethical society that is responsible to the people.
Since state sponsored patriotism undermines true patriotism, we have to take the side of patriotism in substance rather than patriotism in form. We are, after all, the Church of Reality. To deny us real patriotism and require false patriotism forced us to live the lie.
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Oaths and Pledges 