One Nation Under God Growing up in a Christian household, I was raised in believing that the United States and God went together. Even throughout all my schooling up until college I blindly participated in the pledge of allegiance, national anthem and other ceremonies that connected the country to god. I never questioned where my belief came from and for that matter where all of this nation’s god association came from. Being actively interested in history I knew that the pledge wasn’t always practiced within the United States so I never knew where we came up with the pledge of allegiance came from and where the god part came from.…
A New York State law created states all public schools were to open each day with the Pledge of Allegiance and a nondenominational prayer in which the students acknowledged their dependence upon God. Engel vs. Vitale was a case brought to the attention of the Supreme Court by ten concerned parents by minors who attended a public school in New York City. At the beginning of a school day lesson the following prayer, consisting of 22 words, ‘Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country. Amen.’, was recited due to the approval of the New York state board of regents (state board of education) in 1951.…
Revisions to the Pledge of Allegiance The Pledge of Allegiance was written by a socialist minister named Francis Bellamy in August of 1892. He had hoped that it would be used by citizens in any country. It was penned as follows, “I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”…
It was rather enacted to assist parents of all religions with getting their children to school” (Oyez). That reasoning from Justice Black supports the fact that rather than the school board system passing this law trying to support a religion or require their citizens to, the law was passed only to help all parents, with all religious views, get their students to and from school. When early founders were first introducing the amendments, James Madison “... offered an amendment to include the word ‘nation’ before ‘religion’” (Brian 140). Madison offered this so the people of the United States would understand that there would be no national religion.…
The first amendment in the Constitution of the United States of America states that everyone has the right to practice any religion, or none at all. Another aspect that comes with freedom of religion is that the US government will not establish a religion, therefore there will be a separation of church and state. In 1954, Dwight Eisenhower proposed to Congress that the words, “under God,” be added into the Pledge of Allegiance (undergod.procon.org). After sixty-three years, controversy has broken out claiming that those words elude to an established religion. The words, ‘under God’ should remain in the Pledge of Allegiance because it expresses the views of our nation’s past and present leaders, it does not force those who recite it to believe…
Moreover proponents also state that the addition of under god is constitutional, as the constitution does state that “ congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion,” and the pledge is only recognizing our country under god not for one and it does not promote a particular religion. But let me give you some history on this controversy. Now on June 14, 1954, (Flag day), the use of,“ under god,” was signed into law by President Eisenhower. When under god was added, the United States was deeply engulfed in the Cold War and had to religiously distinguish itself from our enemies at the time, the communists, who were for the most part, atheists. Now not many Americans opposed the addition of, “under god,” in the Pledge of Alligiance in 1954, but according to the book To The Flag, a group of people called the Free Thinkers took the case against the addition to a New York court but their trial judge rejected their claim on the basis that it was not promoting no one religion.…
In “Why the Pledge of Allegiance Should Be Revised”, Gwen Wilde argues that the pledge of allegiance is being more religious than patriotic. She claims that saying the words, “under God” is inappropriate, because it’s stating that everyone believes in the same god and it is ironically dividing our “indivisible” nation along religious lines. However, I disagree with her claim, because the phrase “under God is just a Phrase. Of course the pledge has been changed over time, but it was for good reasons. People can interpret the phrase however they want, but the nation is still indivisible.…
However, the original version of the “Pledge” written in 1892 did not contain the words “under God” and wouldn’t until over fifty years later in 1954, when Eisenhower encouraged the addition to combat communism. While socialist author Francis Bellamy was deceased by this time, his next of kin Rachael Bellamy violently objected to the addition. And shouldn’t we, the American citizens, do the same? Congress added Eisenhower’s revision in a time of extreme warfare and reflects a dark, violent time in America’s history. Shouldn 't we want to expunge the phrase, to show our progress as a nation?…
“Does the phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance merely acknowledge the role that religion has played in American history— without even presuming the existence of God? Such an interpretation appears to be unwarranted, since the Pledge makes no mention of the nation’s history or any of the aforementioned events,” (Kao, G. Y., & Copulsky, J. E. 2007). The students should not be required to stand and recite the pledge of allegiance due to the second amendment. It strips the students of the rights that the school system teaches them. They have the right to freedom of religion.…
In Jeffrey Jones’ article, “The Man Who Wrote the Pledge of Allegiance,” he explains that upon deciding to add “one nation under God” to the Pledge in the 1954 bill, advocates did not view this addition as religious. Owen adds that there is a difference between “the existence of a religion as an institution and a belief in the sovereignty of God” (2003). To clarify, the phrase “under God” was embedded in the Pledge to acknowledge God’s guidance in national affairs. In addition, this phrase supports the idea that our founding fathers believed that religion was vital for building America. According to Mark Edwards, author of the article “Was America Founded as a Christian Nation,” the founding fathers felt that religion was necessary to conserve America’s virtues (2015).…
The reason why the Phrase “Under God” was put in the Pledge was to make non believers of God feel as if they were not welcome to the United States. The original Pledge of Allegiance never had the phrase “Under God” in it, it originally read as “I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” (Greenberg, Pg. 2, Para. 4, 2002). This originally omitted the phrase that placed God in the pledge. Other students have personal beliefs that make it so they feel that it would be unjustified of them if they stood for the Pledge. These personal beliefs are often encroached upon by schools why believe that they have the right to take away a students rights as an American citizen.…
There is one fact that people are forgetting; it is the history of why the two words were added. The phrase “under God” should be removed from the pledge because America is a multireligious…
When I was listening to the audio “The problem We all Live With” brought be many questions as an American. Growing up we were forced to believe in this ideology that we are all created equal and we are free, but the question is are we? Since, I can remember we have always pledged to the flag of the United States every morning before class started. Just by simply breaking down the words on the pledge of allegiances we can analyze the meaning of those words. The pledge allegiances states that “ 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”.…
Main Idea – Legislative Branch: The legislative outlook doesn’t like the fact that students are coming into school being faced with religions that they may not practice. Supporting Detail: The constitutional prohibition against laws respecting an establishment must at least mean that in this country it is no part of the business of government to compose official prayers for any group of the American people to recite as a part of a religious program carried out by government. Supporting Detail: Government in this country, be it state or federal, is without power to prescribe by law any particular which is to be used as an official prayer on carrying on any program of governmentally sponsored religious activity.…
Provisional Title “In God We Trust: Freedom Religion in Public Schools” This title was chosen to examine and understand the extent in which teachers and students can express their beliefs, and the extent to which schools allow religion to be tolerated. I chose the title “In God We Trust” because it is the official motto of the United States, yet it directly correlate’s with the controversy of separation of church and state. As an American citizen we have the right to freedom of religion, but the constitution is vague in what extent freedom of religion is acceptable.…