Growing up, every single one of you, omitting those of you who were home schooled, went to some kind of school. You got up in the morning, most likely ate some breakfast, packed a bag, gave your mom and your dad a hug and a kiss goodbye and out the door you went. Off to school you’d go Monday through Friday, like clockwork. Every morning you’d sit in the same desk, and you’d listen to the same teacher and you’d probably recited the same allegiance that thousands of other school children partake in. The pledge of Allegiance was first written in September of 1892, by the socialist minister Francis Bellamy, however it read much differently.
“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, One Nation,
Indivisible with Liberty and Justice for all”
In 1943 the words, “The Flag of the United States of America” making it then read,
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for
which it stands one Nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”
It wasn't until 1954, in response to Communist threats that President Dwight D. Eisenhower encouraged congress to add the words “Under God” Creating the 31-word pledge we know and grew up saying on a daily basis.
“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”
Know more than ever, hundreds of people, both those of a religious background and not, are trying to take that simple phrase out. In 31 words Bellamy, Eisenhower and others have tried to capture the “underlying spirit” of this American Republic, and well atleast in my opinion have done a pretty good job at doing just that. However recently, according to CNN , the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts considered arguments to remove the reference of “Under God” based upon claims of “discrimination”. As Jefferson, Lincoln, and Martin Luther King attest, the American people’s freedom —the freedom of your neighbor, your co-workers, your children and your teachers, are because we are one nation under God. Take that principle away, remove it from the nations Consciousness, and we will surely loose the very basis for the freedoms we so easily take for granted. Today, I hope to outline the main reasons that the American people are not forced to say such pledge, but instead, recite the pledge with remarks to our Founding Fathers, gives thanks to our Soldiers over seas, and that this truly is not an issue of Church and State.
For many Americans, ‘One Nation under God’ are four words of the Pledge that remind us the main reason we truly are free. Those words, “One Nation, Under God” describe the way the American Government functions. Thomas Jefferson once said, “No king or emperor, no president or congress, no court or crowd gives us our rights. They come instead from God himself and are unalienable.” Our founding fathers understood that government does not give us our freedom, and they continued to build the American foundation on such principles. Abraham Lincoln, in the Gettysburg address, offered the vision “that [the] dead shall not have died in vain, and that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and [the] government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not perish from this earth.”. When the government acknowledged that all things are ‘under God’ it acknowledged that they, being the government, are not the direct source of our rights, and therefore under no circumstance can deny them. Our rights in of themselves come from a higher source, one that no matter what the government may say, the Creator himself is in play. To edit out the words ‘Under God’ from the Pledge, would change far more than the wording of this famous allegiance, and instead would shift our focus from where our rights originated from. Kevin Hasson founder of Becket Fund for Religious Liberty said, “There is a good and just God who endows the people with rights that the Government must respect, without respecting such rights, they take away our entire understanding of where our rights even come from.” The Government while yes, can tell us to pay our taxes, not speed, and to not murder, cannot and will not tell us who God himself is as that is the domain of faith itself, however the Government can and does affirm what is within the domain of reason.
Americans everyday also argue the point of saying the words ‘Under God’ turns the pledge itself into a prayer, thus making it unconstitutionaltional to have to force schoolchildren to recite it. First of all, no child in the United States is ever forced to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. When I was in third grade a young man, we will call him Robert, would not recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Robert had his demons, and did not believe in saying it. Now not once, did one of my teachers at the Elementry school ever force him to say the Pledge. Teachers however would request that he would stand, in order to show respect to both the troops over sea and other students. Now of course Robert would always give respect, on days he wore a hat, he’d even take it off. In no instance are children ever forced. Barak Obama once said, “Not every mention of God in public is a breach to the wall of separation – context matters. It is doubtful that children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance feel oppressed or brainwashed as a consequence of muttering the phrase 'under God.’” Now, if you where to sit down and read the pledge, word for word, we would learn we are not pledging to God, but instead to the Republic. While the pledge does describe the republic as ‘One Nation under God, Indivisible,’ it is only a statement of fact. The fact that our Founding fathers established our government on the proposition that freedom comes from God himself and not the State. Thomas Jefferson even warns of the consequences of forgetting this important principle. On Jeffersons’ memorial it states, “God who gave us life, gave us liberty. Can the Liberties of a Nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?”. In this war of ideas, “people will not define what they do not cherish, and they will not cherish what they do not understand.” Unfortunately, in this context, people do not understand the dire need to realize that while our Country is separated Church & State, we as a nation are compelled to live and live freely under the promises both of our Government and of the Almighty God. Lincoln said it best, “Now we are in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure with God.”
In conclusion, the next time you hear the announcer speak “All rise” or hear a teacher say class please stand for the reciting of our Pledge of Allegiance, it is my hope, and the supporters of keeping these four valuable words, hope that you will recite the pledge the way it was intended to be stated. Remembering the thousands of Soldiers, both male and female, currently risking every ounce of their life to protect the freedom you and I take for granted on a daily basis. Remembering whose hands the governments truly in, and how we as a nation, are all united together as one. Lastly, I’d like to share with you a short clip of the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Regan, speaking about our Great Nation. Works Cited
https://gogateways.org/blog/why-under-god-must-remain-in-the-pledge-of-allegiance
https://undergod.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000053
END SPEECH WITH GALATIANS 5:13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-0CBP0NVeo One nation under god Ronald Regan