America: Under God or Not?

The earthly component of Jesus' Gospel focuses on "right relationships" (righteousness).

As William Barclay noted, "If God is our Father, then our fellow man is our brother. The only possible basis for [any variant of] democracy is the conviction of the fatherhood of God."

History is an ongoing testimony as to the playing out of the general status of the quality of relationships at different times. Mankind, biblically fallen, is innately self-centered. Trouble & distress are, therefore, woven into the fabric of life on Earth. The quality of life in different times and different places depends on the general quality of a population's relationships. Relationship quality depends on the general awareness of the people as to the tie between (1) actions or inactions and (2) resulting future consequences. That awareness depends on (1) the general knowledge of the people, (2) the general vision of the people, (3) the general ability of the people to delay gratification, and (4) the general ability of the people to see that each one's own best self interest is most enhanced when attending to the best interests of the greater community. Then, the greater the level of all of these, the greater the overall wisdom of the people at large. Elevations of general societal well being (incuding such as social justice) NEVER happen by force or legal systems. Rather, elevation of betterment ONLY happens by a general societal will to do so...and then the elevated interpersonal skill at right relationships. Especially with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, people have the means to truly see, when mature, that their OWN best self interest is greater served when folks do what it takes to have the best outcome for the greater general community!

The battle: whether you, the reader, know it or not (or even care), the Bible has a lot to say about the fact that the real battle in the greater world is between (1) the forces of good (God inspired) vs. (2) the forces of evil (Satan). And, let's not forget that satanic influence can infiltrate or undermine good, just, and godly efforts, organizations, or movements. [even atheists must admit to the human battle between good & bad; and psychologists live their careers dealing with the aftermaths of this struggle] Humans tend to focus on a smaller scale, a smaller "slice", a "tribal" portion of the world. There is a determined secularist (non-religious)...secular progressive (post-modern)...movement in America to blot out God. It seems to me that the fundamental drive of the secularists is that "secularists" want to be able to do what they want to do without guilt. The secularist-mind (1) focus is legalistically on self & issues of money, and (2) their root concerns revolve around rich and poor issues (though they may be high-profile vocally in favor of abortion and homosexuality) and various other "rights" (such as the "right" of all to top-dollar health care). The secular progressive movement (and its spin off influence in the culture) seems melded by the glue of a  focus inward  on self (eliminate self-feelings of guilt) rather than truly outward on others. The traditionalists are at least culturally/philosophically "religious" (along Judeo-Christian lines) and have personal root concerns about right & wrong (and, therefore, all of the ramifications of what leads to personal...not legal-based...standards & judgments of right & wrong & service & stewardship to the greater good). Whether actually practicing the Jewish or Christian religions or not, Christian-practiced attitudes accrue to a betterment of society, the root attitudes being all about positive relationships ("right" relationships) and community cohesion, no matter how complex the set of social strata or pigeon holes.

Though the reasons explorers and nations sought America may have been different, a huge majority of the actual immigrants came for religious freedom (plus many other side issues). As Rev. Franklin Graham, son of Rev. Billy Graham,  has noted, "The painful irony is that it was our Christian roots in America that created an environment supportive of free thought and behavior that has resulted in tolerance (as it is now [2002-2013] understood)."

Being "under God" is a great part of our USA history and cultural tradition. "Under God" fundamentally underpins the fact that the original idea of America was never about a utopia. It was (and most certainly should continue to be) about equal opportunity. A "fully just" utopia quietly or forcefully enslaves & does not free people. And, because of the flaws of the fallen human nature of mankind, a true utopia, socialism, or communism...though sort of laudable...is humanly impossible. Anything that removes the responsibility & motivation of an individual to admit their role in the consequences of his/her behavior undermines such a person's possibilities to live a fulfilled life at any economic level.

UNDER GOD: In fact, being "under God" is the key to our covenantal view of (USA) a representative democratic government: a government form hinged, not on the idea of a rootless freedom of process, but on the belief that power is from God to the people, and the people loan it to "government" (expecting government to be good stewards of that loaned power). This is the key to assuring true and enduring freedom. Other governments simply arise, take power (or have an implied contract with the people), and view the people as subjects (no matter what words might be used to mask the subjugation). A plain, un-rooted, representative democracy is "just another" form of government. The preambles to the constitutions of all 50 states reference God or The Divine (this impartial  "urban legends" website certifies this to be so).

Reflecting this sense of divine foundation of the USA society, the vast majority of modern US citizens still profess a belief in God (in truth, some percentage of them may actually just believe in a Judeo-Christian philosophy reflective of The Golden Rule & the desire to, thereby, voluntarily live in right relationships rather than be forced by law toward "just" relationships). But, on 26 June 2002, the 9th US Circuit Court in California declared that the words "under God" in our nation's pledge of allegiance are unconstitutional. The U. S. Supreme court subsequently ruled that the case had been misfiled. And, that 9th Circuit court reaffirmed its decision in 2004 when the case was re-filed. The issue  has never gone much further in the legal system or Congress. Here is a web timeline of the issue (HERE). And, here are some notes:

the correct Mayflower Compact of 1620:

"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&.

Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620."

NOTE: There has been an alleged movement to have school books use a revisionist copy of the Compact (devoid of God & Christian)...as if this document never originally said what it said.

United State's Declaration of Independence 4 July 1776:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. [etc.]

George Washington & USA Hire Chaplains 1776.

Great Seal of the USA 1776:

The "annuit coeptis" shows an unfinished pyramid. Above it is the eye in a triangle surrounded by radiant light. This all symbolizes recognition of the need for the favorable hand of Providence in the bold experiment of the USA.

1790 U. S. Supreme Court:

Since and including its first opening session, this court always opens any session with the Marshall shouting, "God save the United States and this honorable court!"

Ben Franklin:

"Man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants."

Patrick Henry:

"It is when people forget God that tyrants forge their chains."

United State's National Anthem, 1814:

It was the valiant defense of Fort McHenry by American forces during the British attack on September 13, 1814 that inspired 35-year old, poet-lawyer Francis Scott Key (in 1814 or 1815) to write the poem which was to become our national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner." The poem was written to match the meter of the English song, "To Anacreon in Heaven." In 1931 the Congress of The United States of America enacted legislation that made "The Star-Spangled Banner" the official national anthem.

Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

William Penn:

"Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants."

1830, Alexis de Tocqueville:

This great French scientist, historian, and politician visited America. Upon his return, he commented, "I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness...I understood the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good; and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."

Presidential Inauguration Swearing-in pledge:

includes the ending, "so help me God."

United States Supreme Court Building:

displays the 10 commandments of the Bible.

United States Library of Congress Building:

When you enter, you will see the words, "In God we Trust".

United States Congressional Capitol Building:

Quoting Psalms 16:1, Preserve me O God: for in thee do I put my trust."

"In God We Trust" inscribed on coins:

In a first such letter dated 13 Nov.1861, the Reverend M. R. Watkinson of Ridleyville, Pa. urged the secretary of the Treasury to try to introduce something as to God, Liberty, and Law on the coins of the land, arguing on the theological premise that in a Judeo-Christian nation, "There is but one God." Congress, then beginning to be responsive to the religious community, passed the Coinage Act of April 22, 1864, which designated that 'In God We Trust' be put on coins "when and where sufficient space in the balance of the design" would permit it.

Rev. Watkinson's letter was directed to Secretary of the Treasury Samuel P. Chase. It read:

"Dear Sir: You are about to submit your annual report to the Congress respecting the affairs of the national finances.

One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form on our coins.

You are probably a Christian. What if our Republic were not shattered beyond reconstruction? Would not the antiquaries of succeeding centuries rightly reason from our past that we were a heathen nation? What I propose is that instead of the goddess of liberty we shall next inside the 13 stars a ring inscribed with the words PERPETUAL UNION; within the allseeing eye, crowned with a halo; beneath this eye the American flag bearing in its field stars equal to the number of the States united; in the folds of the bars the words GOD, LIBERTY, LAW..." "...This would relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism..." "...This would place us openly under the Divine protection."

Seven days after the transmittal of Watkinson's letter, Secretary Chase, in a letter dated November 20, 1861, wrote to James Pollock, Director of the Mint at Philadelphia. He instructed Pollock to prepare a motto, declaring "No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins..." A design was submitted in December, 1863 proposing OUR GOD AND OUR COUNTRY, or the alternative of GOD, OUR TRUST. On December 9, 1863, Chase formally approved a third slogan in a letter to the Mint Director.

"I approve your mottoes (sic), only suggesting that on that with the Washington obverse the motto should begin with the word OUR, so as to read OUR GOD AND OUR COUNTRY. And on that with the shield, it should be changed so as to read: IN GOD WE TRUST."

"In God We Trust" thus appeared on the short-lived 1864 two-cent coin. In 1865, Congress passed another act allowing the mint director to place the motto on all gold and silver coins.  At times, the motto was dropped. It has been used continuously on the one-cent coin since 1909, and on dimes since 1916.  It disappeared from the 5-cent piece in 1883 and reappeared on the Jefferson nickel in 1938. In response to a citizenry outcry in 1908, President Teddy Roosevelt ordered the motto restored to the $20 gold piece. Since July 1, 1908,"In God We Trust" has also been stamped on gold coins, silver dollars, quarters and half-dollar coins

Watkinson's effort with the coinage was part of a larger campaign waged by a coalition of eleven Protestant denominations under the umbrella of the National Reform Association. Disenchanted with the secularism of documents such as the Constitution, the NRA sought to amend that instrument to "indicate that this is a Christian nation." Petitions were raised and formally presented to Congress. They proposed a new preamble to the Constitution which read: 

"We, the people of the United States, humbly acknowledging Almighty God as the source of all authority and power in civil government, the Lord Jesus Christ as the Ruler among the nations, His revealed will as the supreme law of the land, in order to constitute a Christian government..."

The petition failed despite the membership of powerful and wealthy men in the National Reform Association. They included Supreme Court Justice William Strong, a handful of governors and prominent businessmen.

The next similar event with the national currency had to wait nearly a century, when on July 11.1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed Public Law 140 making it mandatory that all coinage and paper currency display a new national motto "In God We Trust." The following year, Public Law 851 was enacted and signed, which officially replaced the national motto "E Pluribus Unum" with "In God We Trust".

NOTE: All of this occurred at the height of cold war tension, when political divisions between the Soviet and western block were often portrayed as a confrontation between Judeo-Christian civilization and the "godless" menace of atheistic communism. Indeed, the new national motto was only part of a broader effort to effectively reflect the national foundational fact of God in civic ritual and symbols. On June 14, 1954, Congress unanimously ordered the inclusion of the words "Under God" into the nation's Pledge of Allegiance. By this time, other laws mandating public recognition Of God had also been enacted, including a statute for all federal justices and judges to swear an oath concluding with "So help me God." This was all largely to clearly indicate the real difference between our "free" society and the atheistic, suppressive & murderous communistic societies.

All paper currency issued after October 1, 1957 included the IN GOD WE TRUST national motto.

Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation:

"We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us."

"One nation under God" in USA 1892 Pledge of Allegiance:

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.

from/after a web file, copyright Dr. John W. Baer:

Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931), a Baptist minister, wrote the original Pledge in August 1892. He was a Christian Socialist. In his Pledge, he is expressing the ideas of his first cousin, Edward Bellamy, author of the American socialist utopian novels, Looking Backward (1888) and Equality (1897).

Francis Bellamy in his sermons and lectures and Edward Bellamy in his novels and articles described in detail how the middle class could create a planned economy with political, social and economic equality for all. The government would run a peace time economy similar to our present (2000) military industrial complex.

The Pledge was published in the September 8th 1892 issue of The Youth's Companion, the leading family magazine (and the Reader's Digest of its day). Its owner and editor, Daniel Ford, had hired Francis in 1891 as his assistant when Francis was pressured into leaving his Baptist church in Boston because of his socialist sermons. As a member of his congregation, Ford had enjoyed Francis's sermons. Ford later founded the liberal and often controversial Ford Hall Forum, located in downtown Boston.

In 1892 Francis Bellamy was also a chairman of a committee of state superintendents of education in the National Education Association. As its chairman, he prepared the program for the public schools' quadricentennial celebration for Columbus Day in 1892. He structured this public school program around a flag raising ceremony and a flag salute - his 'Pledge of Allegiance.'

His original Pledge read as follows: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag and (to*) the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.' He considered placing the word, 'equality,' in his Pledge, but knew that the state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality for women and African Americans. [ * 'to' added in October, 1892. ]

Dr. Mortimer Adler, American philosopher and last living founder of the Great Books program at Saint John's College, has analyzed these ideas in his book, The Six Great Ideas. He argues that the three great ideas of the American political tradition are 'equality, liberty and justice for all.' 'Justice' mediates between the often conflicting goals of 'liberty' and 'equality.'

In 1923 and 1924, following WWI (the war to end all wars), the National Flag Conference, under the 'leadership of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, changed the Pledge's words, 'my Flag,' to 'the Flag of the United States of America.' Bellamy disliked this change, but his protest was ignored.

The US government officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance in 1942.

1954: Following WWII and during the early phase of "the cold war" between God-fearing America (and much of the rest of the world) and Russia, and after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, the words, 'under God,' were proposed . Worried that orations used by "godless communists" sound similar to the Pledge of Allegiance, religious leaders lobbied 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, joined the chorus to put God into the pledge.

President Eisenhower said "In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource in peace and war." Congress did what he asked. The Pledge had now become more than just a patriotic oath.

Bellamy's granddaughter said he also would have resented this second change. He had been pressured into leaving his church in 1891 because of his socialist sermons. In his retirement in Florida, he stopped attending church because he disliked the racial bigotry he found there.

What follows is Bellamy's own account of some of the thoughts that went through his mind in August, 1892, as he picked the words of his Pledge:

It began as an intensive communing with salient points of our national history, from the Declaration of Independence onwards; with the makings of the Constitution...with the meaning of the Civil War; with the aspiration of the people...

The true reason for allegiance to the Flag is the 'republic for which it stands.' ...And what does that vast thing, the Republic mean? It is the concise political word for the Nation - the One Nation which the Civil War was fought to prove. To make that One Nation idea clear, we must specify that it is indivisible, as Webster and Lincoln used to repeat in their great speeches. And its future?

Just here arose the temptation of the historic slogan of the French Revolution which meant so much to Jefferson and his friends, 'Liberty, equality, fraternity.' No, that would be too fanciful, too many thousands of years off in realization. But we as a nation do stand square on the doctrine of liberty and justice for all...

United State's National Motto:

It was Jefferson who suggested the national slogan "E Pluribus Unum"  [from  many, one]; and that slogan (created by committee in 1776) was adopted in 1782, five years before the Constitutional convention of 1787 (about 2000, Al Gore has tried to promote that it means "from one, many"). In 1956, Congress passed a resolution declaring "In God We Trust", the national motto. The use of the phrase has since withstood at least three federal court challenges, including one that led to a 1996 ruling by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case. "It's been tested for its constitutionality in federal court," said Michigan state Rep. Stephen Ehardt, a Republican. "It is secular. It's not a religious statement and it's something we should be proud of -- it's our national motto."

The 26 June 2002 Decision Sparking the Controversy...a Lie!

Sacramento, California physician atheist activist, Michael Newdow filed suit some time ago against his daughter's school district and against the U. S. Congress to overturn the 1954 law that added "under God" to our pledge. He claimed that his then-8-year-old daughter, whom he claimed he was raising as an atheist, was injured whenever she had been compelled to watch and listen as her teachers and classmates recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the USA. It recently emerged that his daughter and her mother (they never married) are God-believer members in good standing of Calvary Chapel in Cosa Mesa, California. When confronted with this apparent fraudulent implication, Newdow  has been quoted as saying, "This is more about me than her. I'd like to keep her out of this."

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(posted 27 July 2002; latest update 15 June 2013)