The phrase "take the pledge" means to make a commitment or promise to fulfill a particular action or task. Therefore, the antonyms for this phrase could be "refuse the pledge", which means to decline or reject the promise, or "break the pledge", which indicates failing to fulfill the commitment. Another antonym could be "ignore the pledge", which denotes neglecting or disregarding the promise altogether. Alternatively, the opposite of "taking the pledge" might be "abstaining" or "abstaining from taking the pledge", meaning one chooses to avoid making any sort of commitment or promise.