The recent debate regarding the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance during morning announcements at South Portland High School has stirred up a hornet’s nest around the region. And for good reason – because it goes to the heart of what it means to be an American patriot.

The issue of reciting the pledge in school seems to come up every so often. In 2009, the pledge became an issue when the Gorham school community decided to reinstitute the pledge during morning announcements, after 20 years of not reciting the pledge at all. The issue in South Portland has similarly reignited what people on both sides of the debate say strikes at the heart of what it means to be an American. When the school’s senior class president, Lily SanGiovanni, went against administrators’ wishes and added “if you’d like to” when inviting students to recite the pledge, that small act of defiance, as well as the thought that some students would sit quietly during the pledge, offended people.

First off, let’s reread the pledge: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

While Jehovah’s Witnesses are among those unwilling to say the pledge for religious reasons (they pledge allegiance to God, not a country), there are many Americans who have similar hesitations. They are atheists, or believe in Allah, or just don’t want to be told to pledge allegiance to anything. While the South Portland story has focused on those who don’t believe in the God mentioned in the pledge, this ruckus has got us thinking, what exactly is a patriotic American? Let’s start with what it isn’t.

Especially since the nation has been at war for more than a decade now, many say that military service is the highest act of patriotism. And that dying for the country is even more patriotic. But is that true? Many people have physical ailments that prevent them from joining the military. Does that mean they’re somehow less patriotic? And is serving a lifetime in government, not as a self-interested politician but as a true public servant, any less patriotic than military service? There are plenty of Americans who help their neighbors in small ways, work hard at their job and faithfully pay their taxes. That seems pretty patriotic, too. Their toil keeps the country’s gears working.

Also, patriotism can differ from country to country. The American form of patriotism differs significantly from other forms. A North Korean patriot knows and recites the party line, on pain of death. Increasingly, Russian patriotism is creeping in the same direction. American patriotism, however, begins and ends with a steadfast dedication to the founding documents, which are built upon the freedom of speech. A patriot, therefore, wants to preserve and promote the ideas central to the country’s founding. Nothing more, nothing less.

Our kind of patriotism elevates and honors the importance of freedom of speech. Most of us would agree that’s the foundational American principle. Some speech can be reprehensible to the majority, but the majority realizes that tolerance of other views is essential. It may take years before some minority opinions are tolerated, but eventually a “more perfect union” is created because Americans value freedom of thought and expression.

In our increasingly pluralist society, there are plenty of people who take umbrage with the pledge, mainly for religious reasons because they don’t believe in God. This is not shocking. The culture wars didn’t start last week in South Portland. And Americans should get it by now that just because people don’t want to say the pledge – or go to war, or believe in God or believe watching baseball is the ideal pastime – doesn’t mean they’re less patriotic. If they believe in American principles as written in the founding documents, they are patriots. The country is historically inclusive, but it also stands for something. Commitment to the Constitution and upholding the rights it protects, more than military service or serving in the government or waving an American flag or unthinkingly reciting the pledge during morning announcements, is what it means to be an American patriot.

–John Balentine, managing editor