A recent Facebook poll asked if the words "under God" should be omitted from the Pledge of Allegiance. While I really wish they were never put there in the first place, since we've had the Pledge in its current form for more than 50 years, it's probably too late to excise those words now. The firestorm and widespread lunacy that would follow this comparatively trivial action would make the cost of doing so prohibitive. If you think the right wing is in high dudgeon now, you ain't seen nothing yet!
The original Pledge, written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a socialist and Baptist pastor read as follows: "I Pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one nation indivisible, with liberty and Justice for all." In the 1920s, over Bellamy's objections, the Pledge was changed to include the words United States of America. Finally, after a six-year campaign coinciding with the Korean War and the constant fear of nuclear war with the Soviet Union, the phrase "under God" was inserted in 1954. Lobbyists argued convincingly that patriotic speeches made by godless communists sounded too much like our Pledge as it then stood.
First of all, I'm still not sure exactly what "under God" means. Yes, I get that it's a vague reference somehow tying our country to God, unlike them godless commies, but what does the phrase really mean? Under God's command and control? God's law? God's watchful eye? Does it mean under God physically, because as we all know God sits on a throne, which in turn sits on a cloud? Since we never aspired to be a theocracy and I doubt we want a monument to the stunning lack of imagination that compels us to believe God has furniture, I'm not sure what legitimate purpose is served by adding the phrase.
More importantly, this alteration of the Pledge troubles me for a few reasons. First, the colossal irony of quite literally splitting up "one Nation indivisible" in order to inject something as divisive as religion would be hilarious if it weren't disturbing. We had already seen Supreme Court cases in which forcing children to recite the Pledge and/or salute the flag ran afoul of some devout American Christians' religious beliefs. That alone, if common sense and casual observation weren't enough, should have taught us that pushing one religious tradition on a pluralistic society is antithetical to the cause of indivisibility. Secondly, I don't like this change to the Pledge against the backdrop of the Cold War. The looming specter of war being married to the belief that God is on my side against the infidel chills me to the bone. I don't like the "Jesus loves me but He can't stand you" crowd viewing their weapons of mass destruction as the right arm of the Lord for the same reason that I don't like suicide bombers.
