What does the Constitution actually say?
If there's anything that I picked up from the land of Paul Bragdon, Dr. Demento, and the Doyle Owl, it's a respect for the original sources and the original times. So let's look at the original source. (Emphasis mine.)
Amendment I - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Now let's look at the original times:
The framers of our constitution did not want the government to favor one religion or denomination above the others, and in so doing, establish a state religion. The Church of England served as an example of what the founding fathers wanted to avoid. They wanted each citizen to have the freedom to worship in whatever way he or she chose, without having religious beliefs or practices dictated to them by the government.
You will notice that “separation of church and state” is not mentioned in the first amendment. In fact, it’s not mentioned in the constitution at all. That phrase comes from a letter that founding father and 3rd U.S. President Thomas Jefferson wrote, that reads, in part:
“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with solemn reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.” [1]
In this letter, Jefferson is actually responding to a letter he had received from the Danbury Baptists of Danbury, CT. They were a minority denomination in that area and were subjected to persecution for their beliefs. They feared that if the government were to adopt a state religion, as it had done in England, that their minority views would be trampled, and they themselves subject to further persecution. Jefferson wrote his letter to them to reassure them that they would remain free to worship as they wished, without needing to fear government interference in their religious beliefs or practices. In fact, he borrowed the term “wall of separation” from famous Baptist minister Roger Williams.
We can see that neither the constitution nor Jefferson’s “separation” letter ever intimates that religious expression must be kept out of the public arena.
My question - what religion does the Pledge of Allegiance establish? Anglican? Catholic? Reform Judaism? Islam? Hindu?
Now I could certainly understand objections if the Pledge of Allegiance included language such as
one nation, under one God, and Mohammed is His prophet
or
one nation, under God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
but as it currently stands, the reference to "God" in the Pledge of Allegiance is religiously meaningless. And that "God" can be anything - for example, a grapefruit. There is certainly no consensus on the "God" under which this nation exists.
So again, what religion is being "established" by the words "under God"?
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