Is One Nation "Under God" Exclusive?

This is how The Pledge of Allegiance reads today:

"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."

This is its original form, written by Francis Bellamy in 1892:

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Notice the key differences between the two versions: first, the specification that we are pledging allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and second, that our nation is “under God”.

The first change seems very reasonable. It only customizes this general statement to the country in which it is being used. But the second change, “under God”, seems like a strange revision for the United States to adopt, with its proud separation of church and state. So, let's take a look at the history of The Pledge of Allegiance to see how this significant alteration came about.

History of The Pledge:

As previously mentioned, Francis Bellamy was the original author of The Pledge of Allegiance. Born and raised in upstate New York, Bellamy was a Christian socialist, and as the son of a minister, he soon became one himself.

In 1892, Bellamy worked for a magazine called The Youth’s Companion. To celebrate the 400th anniversary celebration of Christopher Columbus’s discovery of the Americas, a new salute was created which students all over the country would say every day: The Pledge of Allegiance. 

More than 50 years later, in 1954, Congress added the phrase “under God'' after “one nation”. This decision has sparked controversy and debate about its constitutionality ever since, but it is equally important to look into its cause to truly be able to determine its merit.

During the Great Depression, communist and socialist ideas grew popular in the United States; however, due to bitter feelings towards Russia, especially during the Cold War, and an uncertainty surrounding the possibility of Russian spies in the country, these sympathies disappeared and a wide-spread fear of communism came about. This “Red Scare” caused many radical and unconstitutional actions to be taken by the US government, one of which involved the revision of The Pledge of Allegiance to include the phrase “under God”.

Joseph R McCarthy is an example of one of the people who perpetuated the “Red Scare'' and brought it to its peak. In 1950, he accused 205 members of the US government of being communists. He did this to bring attention and power to himself, but this ended up causing panic within the public as people began to lose their faith in the government. McCarthy was never able to prove his accusations or point to evidence to back them up, but the damage had been done and an anti-communist movement had surged to the forefront of American politics.

In the midst of this movement in 1951, The Knights of Columbus, a Catholic Fraternal Organization,“... adopted a resolution to amend the Pledge of Allegiance as recited at the opening of each of the meetings … by the addition of the words ‘under God’ after the words ‘one nation’.” 1

Three years later, the Knights of Columbus urged the president, vice president, and various congress members to revise the Pledge. The result: it was adopted into law on June 14, 1954.

This insertion carries a strange sort of erroneous logic with it. The people who supported it were extremely anti-communist and because communist individuals and countries were generally atheist, they somehow gathered that all atheists must be communists. By this rationale, having everyone recite their devotion to the United States and to God would also make clear who was an atheist (and therefore a communist), so they could be blacklisted and outcast from society. This doesn’t make much sense, but because of the historical context surrounding this, it is evident that the alteration of The Pledge was an act of unnecessary desperation and an opportunity for Catholicism to enter the government.

Because freedom of all religions is so important to us in the United States, preserving the mentioning of God in The Pledge of Allegiance is counter-productive and only can do harm to students and others, as is explained below.

Cases relating to the breach of the “freedom of religion” clause in the First Amendment of the Constitution:

School District of Abington Township, Pennsylvania v. Schempp:

In 1963, a case was argued in Pennsylvania in which a school district was accused of violating the First Amendment of the Constitution by enforcing a state law that required the reading of The Bible in school.

“The district court ruled that the statute violated the First Amendment, even after the statute had been amended to permit a student to excuse himself.” 2

Even though students were not forced to read The Bible, the fact that they read it in school in the first place excluded students who did not want to read it, which could be interpreted as a form of religious segregation and definitely indoctrination. This relates directly to the reading of The Pledge of Allegiance with the “under God” clause in schools everywhere in the US, including Massachusetts. 

Below is a part of Title XII Chapter 71 Section 69 of the General Laws of the state of Massachusetts:

“Each teacher at the commencement of the first class of each day in all grades in all public schools shall lead the class in a group recitation of the ‘Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag’. A flag shall be displayed in each classroom in each such schoolhouse. Failure for a period of five consecutive days by the principal or teacher in charge of a school equipped as aforesaid to display the flag as above required, or failure for a period of two consecutive weeks by a teacher to salute the flag and recite said pledge as aforesaid, or to cause the pupils under his charge so to do, shall be punished for every such period by a fine of not more than five dollars. Failure of the committee to equip a school as herein provided shall subject the members thereof to a like penalty.” 3

As you can see, if a teacher or principal does not read The Pledge each day for a certain period, they can be fined. Yes, it is true that students are not forced to say the words themselves, but being told that our country is “under God” every day can have a significant impact on a student including but not limited to alienation from one’s peers and religious indoctrination, and school is not the place to have that sort of impact.

Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow:

In 2004, Michael Newdow sued his daughter’s public school district for attempting to religiously indoctrinate her through The Pledge of Allegiance and therefore breaking the separation of church and state and freedom of religion as outlined in the First Amendment of the Constitution. As is shown below, a court agreed with him and was ready to take action on that decision when, after an appeal, the Supreme Court reversed the decision on the basis that Michael Newdow did not have legal custody of his daughter and consequently could not take legal action on her behalf.

“A divided panel of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed with Newdow. In light of the obvious importance of that decision, we granted certiorari to review the First Amendment issue and, preliminarily, the question whether Newdow has standing to invoke the jurisdiction of the federal courts. We conclude that Newdow lacks standing and therefore reverse the Court of Appeals’ decision.” 4

So, this man didn't win this case only due to the fact that he didn't have custody of his daughter and wasn’t married to her mother. Otherwise, he would have been successful in his lawsuit and change would have ensued.

So, What Should We Do?

The history of The Pledge underscores that a government-endorsed and required statement like this one very blatantly violates our “freedom of religion” as promised in the first amendment of the Constitution. As members of our community, and especially of our school, we have a responsibility to make this change happen on a local level and set an example for other schools all across the country.

In our community, we want everyone to feel comfortable and accepted, and of course we want to adhere to the constitution on which our country was built. We can do this by taking action for the better. We can start to make a difference by asking our school to be inclusive and exclude the words “under God” from the recitation of The Pledge of Allegiance each morning. Let’s pledge to be leaders and role models for everyone around us, so we can have liberty and justice for all.

Please sign this petition to support taking the "under God" phrase out of the Pledge of Allegiance:

https://chng.it/sbLzFfWCZK 

1: https://www.kofc.org/un/en/resources/communications/pledgeAllegiance.pdf 

2: https://www.oyez.org/cases/1962/142 

3: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXII/Chapter71/Section69

4: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-1624.ZO.html