Politics

Lean Forward: Rev. Al Sharpton drops ‘God’ from Pledge of Allegiance

Jeff Poor Media Reporter
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MSNBC might be the only place where God can’t get a shout-out from a Baptist minister.

In a recently released commercial for the network, part of its “Lean Forward” series, MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation” host and Baptist minister Rev. Al Sharpton is featured, expressing the need to renew the fight against discrimination. And at the end of his plea, he cites the Pledge of Allegiance, but omits the phrase “under God” from it.

“We must have a renewed fight for many of the things we fought for because voting rights, and women’s rights, and the rights of people against discrimination, whether they’re African-American, Latino, lesbian and gay must be protected, until we have a nation that is really living up to the creed of one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” Sharpton said. “Not all of one kind, but all.”

Even though, as noted by Newsbusters’ Ken Shepherd, the original iteration of the Pledge of Allegiance did not include “under God,” the omission of the phrase has been a point of controversy.  In June 2011, MSNBC’s parent network NBC omitted “God” from the pledge at the beginning of the U.S. Open golf tournament.

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