The Pledge of Allegiance is meant to be an outward sign of our inward belief in the highest American ideals: liberty and justice for all. It is meant to bind us together into one indivisible nation.
So why is it the source of so much division and controversy?
Well, because it mentions God, and civil libertarians worry that such a statement is the beginning of falling down the slippery slope toward turning America into a theocracy.
In truth, though, it's those with deep, abiding faith who should be pushing to take "under God" back out of the pledge.
The Supreme Court agreed Oct. 14 to hear a case regarding the infamous phrase. Michael Newdow, an atheist, sued the school district in Sacramento County, California, saying that the teacher-led recitation of the pledge violates his daughter's religious freedom.
It's already illegal to force a child to recite the pledge, but Newdow believes that the teacher -- an agent of the government, in this case -- is supporting religion when he or she leads the class in the recitation. In other words, not only should his daughter not have to say the pledge, she also shouldn't have to hear it.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Newdow, and the decision isn't as crazy as some try to make it sound. Requiring a government official to express faith in a monotheistic God in front of impressionable school children would definitely qualify as endorsing religion. And, after all, that was part of the goal of the laws that added "under God" to the pledge in the first place.
Nevertheless, the Bush administration, Congress and the vast majority of Americans disagree. As Attorney General John Ashcroft pointed out, God is everywhere in American government. He's on our money. The justices open each Supreme Court session with a plea that He might save our nation and their honorable selves. Presidents close speeches by saying, "God bless America."
Ashcroft said these references aren't actually religious. They're just cultural, ceremonial utterances.
In other words, according to Ashcroft, when we say that America is a nation "under God" in the pledge, it has no more religious meaning than saying "God bless you" when someone sneezes.
Ashcroft -- and it pains me to admit this -- is probably right.
And that's exactly why "under God" should be removed from the pledge.
See, there are only two possibilities. Either we mean what we say -- in which case Newdow's daughter's rights are indeed being violated and the appeals court decision should be upheld -- or Ashcroft is right, and we don't. And if we don't mean it, then why should we put our hands over our hearts and say it?
It seems I remember hearing a rule of some kind against taking the name of the Lord your God in vain.
That is why those with true faith are the ones who should be fighting to stop Americans from habitually invoking some vague, feel-good civil deity.
Empty pieties played out for political reasons are nothing less than idolatry, and it's amazing that men who seem to take their faith as seriously as Bush and Ashcroft are okay with that.
Write to Stephen at stevehj@mac.com
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