KEEP “UNDER GOD” IN THE PLEDGE
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other….the Bible offers the only system that ever did or ever will preserve the Republic in the World.” (John Adams)
“Do not indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” (George Washington)
“America is a God-fearing country, with all it implies….American religious commitment is a primary – the primary source, I think – of American exceptionalism.” (English Historian Paul Johnson).
With a district court in California ruling “Under God” (in the pledge of allegiance) unconstitutional, the Supreme Court will soon be forced to decide this issue for the Nation. Those supporting the district court decision will claim the state is not in the business of favoring any one religion, or religion at all. They will claim that the “Wall of Separation” between Church and State prevents public reference to God. They will probably rely on the wording of the First amendment to the US Constitution, which states in part “Government will make no law respecting the establishment of religion or preventing the free exercise thereof.” However, this side will not acknowledge that the philosophical foundations of our Constitutional liberties, the liberties that allow them to speak their piece, come from the idea that we are one Nation “Under God”. Let me explain.
The philosophical underpinnings of our laws and Government are rooted in recognition of God. As Justice William O. Douglas put it: “Our institutions presuppose a Supreme Being”. Samuel Huntington also wrote: “To deny God is to challenge the fundamental principle underlying American society.” The American document expressing the U.S. philosophy of Laws, human rights, and Government is the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration set forth the fundamental belief in the derivation of “unalienable rights”. It proclaims that governments must respect those rights or lose authority. Jefferson wrote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their CREATOR with certain unalienable rights. That among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That Governments are instituted among men to secure these rights.” Our founders gave God the prime place in the foundations of American Law, Government, and Human Rights.
The Constitution of the United States, our supreme legal document, is based on the philosophy expressed in the Declaration of Independence. The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the US Constitution, was meant to secure God given rights. At the time of the Constitution Convention, the United States was overwhelmingly Christian. However, many different denominations of Christianity (and a small percentage of Judaism) were practiced throughout the new country. Many of the early Americans colonists came from Europe to escape state enforcement of a particular denomination. For example, the pilgrims left England to escape the persecution of their non-Anglican, puritan version of Christianity. Most devout Americans believed compulsion in religion would to turn people away from God. They did not want another Church of England. Therefore, the founders insisted on the prevention a National Church/denomination. This was the justification behind the First amendment’s establishment clause: “Government will make no law respecting the establishment of religion or preventing the free exercise thereof.”
Neither the Constitution, nor any other early American document used the term “Wall of Separation between church and state.” This phrase was pulled from Thomas Jefferson’s “Danbury Letter”, written in 1802. It used by the Supreme Court in 1947 to expand the reach the establishment clause. In fact, Jefferson was writing Baptist ministers to allay their fears of government intervention into the Baptist denomination. A year after writing this letter, Jefferson lobbied Congress for money to send missionaries to Native Americans. His many references to God, Prayers, and Actions clearly establish that Jefferson did not believe God should be stricken from American public life. In 1816, Thomas Jefferson wrote “every generation coming equally, by the laws of the Creator of the World, to the free possession of the earth He made for their subsistence.” He is the author who set forth the self-evident fact that human rights come from the “Creator”.
From the beginning, our Government has allowed and encouraged reference God: Prayers before Congress, Congressional Chaplains, Military Chaplains, “In God We Trust” on money, Virtually all great Presidential speeches reference God, the President’s “So help me God” upon his oath. “God save this Court” before the Supreme Court hears arguments, etc. etc. Our National history is one of truly being “One Nation under God.” This is the true history of God in public life. One positive proof that the Establishment Clause was not intended to prevent Government recognition of God: The day after passing the First Amendment, Congress overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling for a day of prayer and thanksgiving to God. It read: “We acknowledge with grateful hearts the many signal favors of almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peacefully to establish a constitutional government for their safety and happiness.” This is absolute, undeniable proof that a voluntary pledge with “Under God” comports with the First Amendment. Any other reading just doesn’t make sense.
President Eisenhower pressed to add the term “Under God” to our Pledge in the 1950s during the Cold War. He wanted the American people to proclaim our God centered government and way of life. As Eisenhower put it best: “Recognition of the Supreme Being is first, no American form of Government, nor any American way of life can exist without acknowledgement of God.” He wanted to contrast it with the atheistic philosophy of communism. Communists believed that the government was all, and government “allowed” people any rights they enjoyed. Our philosophy is that government is under God, and protects the rights God gave his people. Some lines are properly drawn: People should not be forced to pray. We should not discriminate based on religion. Etc. However, the line does not need to be drawn such that the word God can never be mentioned outside of Church.
Let’s hope the Courts and the American people understand the importance of God in public life. Once “Under God” is taken from of our National Philosophy, we will cease to be the same Nation of unalienable, God-given rights. We have fought and died for this system of government for over 200 years, let’s hope we don’t lose it in our courts.
William Connor
