Pledging and Praying

AT THE SENIOR CENTER, it was I who led the pledge of allegiance every day at lunch, because it was my idea that we start reciting it as a group. First we prayed, then we pledged. Or did we pledge first? We have done neither since mid March, and memory fades. I often recited the prayer too, improvising as i went, but only when nobody else volunteered. My point is, my patriotic and spiritual credentials are quite well intact. However, of all the people I despise, there are two types in particular for which I reserve special despising. The profoundly patriotic, and the deeply religious, because thy tend to be the most unrelentingly dogmatic and intolerant of those who do not share their fervor. If you hate people who do not stand for the national anthem, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses or protesters against systemic racism, your hatred is a sham, a fraud, and so are you. shocking though it may seem, other people are not required to share your beliefs nor behavior. I stand, but see no reason to resent those who do not. Actually, I admire them, and I repeat; those who kneel are not disrespecting the national anthem, they are disrespecting American culture and society. arguably, systemic racism merits disrespect, and protests. Patriotic and religious zealots almost invariably feel justified imposing their personal beliefs on others, and shunning or harassing those they cannot intimidate. Patriotic and religious zealotry, and extreme conservatism, rooted in a love of tradition, seem to usually manifest in th same people. These traits come bundled together, as if by intellectual default. Also observable is that many if not most of them support Donald Trump, revealing their true low moral and intellectual character, for Donald Trump has clearly revealed himself to be a traitor who place more importance on his own self interests than the welfare of the nation, and who rarely if ever behaves like a Christian.patriotism corrupts history by motivating irrational behavior, making patriots and nations aggressive.Religious zealotry is the world's single greatest cause of intolerance, hatred, and violence. The excessively zealous are inferior morally, not superior, as they would have us believe. Concealed within all zealots is a scoundrel, concealing nefarious intent, cloaked in a thin veneer of virtuous piety. The intent is to assert superiority by displaying virtue ostentatiously, in a culture in which such behavior is considered a public virtue. Always suspect the motives of the piously patriotic.