Should the words "under God" be in the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance?

Answer 1

Timeline of the Pledge of Allegiance

1892
The pledge, written by socialist editor and clergyman Francis Bellamy, debuts September 8 in the juvenile periodical The Youth's Companion. He wants the words to reflect the views of his cousin, Edward Bellamy, author of "Looking Backward" and other socialist utopian novels. It reads: "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one nation indivisible, with liberty and Justice for all."

1924
The words "the flag of the United States of America" are substituted for "my Flag." Fittingly, the change takes place on Flag Day.

1942
The government officially recognizes the Pledge of Allegiance.

1954
Worried that orations used by "godless communists" sound similar to the Pledge of Allegiance, religious leaders lobby lawmakers to insert the words "under God" into the pledge. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, fearing an atomic war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, joins the chorus to put God into the pledge. Congress does what he asks, and the revised pledge reads: "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."

2002
June 26 The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is an unconstitutional "endorsement of religion" because of the words added in 1954. The decision affects schoolchildren in eight states: Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana and Hawaii.

August 9 The Justice Department files an appeal of the circuit court's ruling.

2003
The U.S. Supreme Court says it will decide whether the current form of the Pledge of Allegiance is an unconstitutional blending of church and state.

2004
The Supreme Court dismisses a father's challenge to the use of the words "one nation, under God" in the Pledge. In so doing, the high court avoids addressing the question of separation of church and state. The court said the father, who was in a custody battle for his daughter, could not sue to ban the pledge from the girl's school because he did not have sufficient custody to speak as her legal representative.

2005

A federal judge declares that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional. The case was brought by the same father who objected to the words "under God" in a case the Supreme Court rejected in 2004.

A U.S. district judge ruled that the phrase violates children's right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God." The issue is expected to return to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Answer 2

To upload to what the opposite posters stated, there may be one VERY foremost component approximately the First Amendment ban on "an status quo of faith" that's traditionally disregarded, When it was once written, the Bill of Rights confined handiest the *Federal* Government, NOT the State Governments. What the founders have been adversarial to was once giving the Federal Government the vigour to impose an based faith at the man or woman States. The rationale for that was once that, on the time the BoR was once handed, MOST of the States *had* an based faith. The founders had NO objection to an based "State Religion" - so much of them got here from States that had precisely that - they simply did not wish the valuable vigour of Washington telling them to difference it. It wasn't till the passage of the 14th Amendment that the US Constitution was once held to shield residents of a State from movements by way of their possess State govt. Until then, the first Amendment prohibited the FEDS for setting up an reputable "American" faith - but it surely was once no bar in any respect to there being an reputable Massachusetts faith, or an reputable Virginia faith, or an reputable Pennsylvania faith - and there have been, actually, reputable religions in all the ones States. It wasn't till the twentieth century that the final of the principles requiring that legislators in lots of states be Christians have been struck from the books beneath a 14th modification program of the first modification. Richard

Answer 3

No.

Firstly, they were snuck in at a much later date and were not intended to be in the original Pledge.

Secondly, they are grammatically incorrect.

For those who say "It's already there, it should be left alone, etc. etc." Does that mean you would have opposed the addition of "Under God" back in the fifties when Congress added it?

Answer 4

No. These words were added in the 1950's to combat communism. I think of it like the Trinity Theory being applied to the Bible 325 years after it was written. People who say our country was founded by people who believe in God need to take a step back... If our founders had intended church and state to be one, they would have made it so. They knew that forcing religion upon people would only stifle our minds. The fact that Americans are not told what to believe and have the freedom to choose their beliefs is the main reason our country is so great.

Answer 5

I dont think so..If "Under God" was such an important phrase why wasn't it in the Pledge from the beginning instead of being added in the 1950's.

Answer 6

No. the words "under God" were added by congress in the mid-fifties. This is a clear cut case of government imposing religious beliefs on the people.

Answer 7

No. The pledge is to the flag and the falg does not represent religion of God. It is a political statement.

Answer 8

Those two seemingly innocuous words are a governmental endorsement of religion in violation of the first amendment.

I have to laugh at all of the uneducated people that claim that our founding fathers were christian, all but two people that signed the Declaration of Independence were Deists, as in not Christian.

Answer 9

Yes! We should leave it alone. Why are people always messing with things? First they take Prayer out of school, now they are messing with our National Anthem. People have their own opinions about this matter, but what really matters is that we are Americans and that the National Anthem is part of OUR heritage, our way of life. There are so many things happening right now in our country, why not let God watch over us in our most desperate time of need.

Niecey O

Answer 10

They already are. It should stay that way. Saying the pledge of allegiance doesn't turn an atheist into a Christian, like they are so worried about.