They can't punish you if you don't recite it.
Yet they do... and if not by the government the society will take care of it.
You are just fighting against human nature if you take issue with that. I hate that type of "join us or be outcast/against us" mentality too, but that is pretty much how mankind works in groups. Social networks act as gangs, and people like to beat up on those who don't conforum. People of lower intelligence especially seem fond of doing this.