"Under God"

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What do you think about "under God" in the pledge of allegiance? I've heard some complain about it, but it's not like it's "one nation under Jesus" which would offend nonChristians.

It doesn't bother me at all.

Believe it or not, "under God" was inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance about the 1950s. Before then, it was "One nation, indivisible....."

I believe it &

I am a believer in God.

It was on Flag Day in 1954 that "Under God" was officially added to the Pledge of Allegiance. Louis Albert Bowman, an attorney from Illinois, was the first to suggest the addition of "under God" to the pledge. The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution gave him an Award of Merit as the originator of this idea. He spent his adult life in the Chicago area and was chaplain of the Illinois Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. At a meeting on February 12, 1948, he led the society in reciting the pledge with the two words "under God" added. He said that the words came from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Although not all manuscript versions of the Gettysburg Address contain the words "under God", all the reporters' transcripts of the speech as delivered do, as perhaps Lincoln may have deviated from his prepared text and inserted the phrase when he said "that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom." Bowman repeated his revised version of the Pledge at other meetings.

As a side note, the words "In God We Trust" were adopted as the official motto of the USA in 1956. It first appeared on the two-cent piece in 1864 and has appeared on paper currency since 1957. During the American Civil War, the 125th Pennsylvania Infantry for the Union Army assumed the motto "In God We trust" in early August 1862.

Thanks for the information.

I'm pretty conflicted over it. On one hand, it sounds very, very wrong without it...on the other hand, I completely understand that it hasn't always been there, but it did undergo a few other revisions in the first half-century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of ... _States%29

Some rather interesting things in this article.

"As a socialist, he had initially also considered using the words equality and fraternity but decided against it, knowing that the state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality for women and African Americans."


I always liked when we were in Cub Scouts, instead of holding our hands over our hearts, we would do a military salute. After reading through this Wiki page, I guess it isn't appropriate to do when you aren't in uniform =|

Soon it shall be changed to "under Google."

Bow down before your corporate overlords.

I'm a Secular Humanist & I think it should be taken out because it is promoting religion in general. it's NOT promoting a specif religion but it's still promoting religion that believes in god. The Separation Of Church & State should prevent the government from establishing or promoting religion. I think it should be taken off money too for this exact reason.

There are people who will regularly say "oh my God" and even "thank God" yet for some reason have a problem with the word God being in the pledge or on money. And should we rename the days of the week? Wednesday is named after Woden. Should we change it to "Thirdday"?

! !!

Instead of "with liberty and justice for all", we'll spend an hour reciting a condensed version of the EULA.


"Thirdday" sounds too close to "Thursday", which is named after Thor, so that won't work.

We'll have to rename all of the constellations and planets, as well!

In the name of Social Justice...for all.

If the words were "one nation under Superman" there wouldn't be objection. People would always want to say the pledge.

I think it's a reactionary piece of cold war propaganda. An attempt to differentiate America from the "godless commies". Mccarthy would approve. Really Christianity isn't what differentiates America from the former USSR.

It's like one of those non-denominational sermons which is carefully worded to appeal to Catholics, Protestants, Jews and all other monotheists.

If you're a believer, then being "One nation, under God" should give you comfort, knowing that even the USA is under the authority of the Most High..

If you're a non-believer, then being "One nation, under God" should also give you comfort, especially if you are also a patriot -- it means that there is no higher authority than Donald Trump.

We don't have this kind of thing in Canada. But when I was kid the elementary school I went to taught religion, so we used to recite the Lord's Prayer every morning. I find it amusing how they make kids do this kind of thing when they are really too young to understand any of it.