Pledge of Allegiance Case

I pledge allegiance to the Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

The Pledge to the Flag was first published anonymously in the September 8, 1892 issue of The Youth's Companion, the most popular youth magazine of its day. The American Pledge of Allegiance was written by Francis Bellamy of Rome, New York, and/or James Upham of Malden, Massachusetts, in August 1892. It is unclear which of the two men wrote the Pledge, or if they co-wrote it, although most historians credit Francis Bellamy (Baer).

Since the pledge was first introduced to the public in 1892, it has been changed a total of three times 1923, 1924 and the final time in 1954. In 1954, Congress passed a bill sponsored by Senator Homer Ferguson, R-Michigan, with adding the words "under God"; this was done to differentiate the United States from the Soviet Union during the Cold War. (Congress)

Recently, there has been great controversy about the words "under God" existing in the nations Pledge of Allegiance. Michael Newdow, a California atheist, brought this case to court. His objection was that his daughter was being forced to listen to her classmates recite the pledge. Newdow's goal was to restore the pledge back to its original 1892 version so that people were not obligated to support a religion that they did not believe (E.P. News).

There are many rebuttals to the case; however, there are many indispensable arguments why this case is considered legit by a court's ruling as well. The nation's founding fathers wrote the pledge, the majority of the United States is religious, the separation of church and state has not been complied with throughout the United States, and no one is required to say or listen to the pledge; so, removing the words "under God" from The Pledge of Allegiance is not understandable.

According to Morse, when Congress approved the addition of the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance, the decision was not done in order to profess religion towards the people of the United States. The Congress intended the insertion of God in the pledge to establish what was to be considered a body of people having authority. Placing God in the pledge was thought of as a term that could be applied to all religions and creeds; thus, the word God would be describing something more than just material existence.

Building the basis of the United States was the founding fathers of the nation. They were not all necessarily under a Christian belief; nonetheless, they did wish for the people of the United States to have morals and values (Williams).

On the contrary, some people do not feel that the nation should follow what the founding fathers thought and did. Gewertz states, "We decide to keep these sayings or traditions in play just because they were the values of our founding fathers. I have to say that not all the values of our founding fathers are values I want to embody."

Despite the fact that the founding fathers assumed the existence of an almighty power, they also protected the right of the people to believe or not. Gewertz does not agree with all ideas of the founding fathers, but he also says, "The phrase under God is in keeping with the intentions of the Founding Fathers. They anchored their thinking in the idea of a higher law in order to ensure that all power does not reside in the state." Agreeing with Gewertz, Cameron thinks that the founding fathers would not be too happy with the way things are going now.

Furthermore, in recognition of the words "under God" being added to the Pledge of Allegiance, President Eisenhower told of how thankful he was for the action to take place. He believed that the words would remind Americans that they needed to remain humble, and "under God" would keep moral principles in their minds. He also says that it was under which the nation was founded ("How the words").

Consequently, the founding fathers have given citizens a great place to live, along with freedom. Since they started a great nation and their actions have continued to be positively effective, why is there any reason to mess with something that is going so well? The people of the United States should respect and honor them, considering the obstacles they had to overcome to make the nation what it is today.

From the time the nation was founded until the present, the United States has been under the influence of religion. In turn, the majority of the United States citizens are religious. Still, the minority is controlling the serious issue of banning the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. Quoting Dr. D. James Kennedy, E. P. News wrote, "that the complaint of one atheist could conceivably cause the Pledge of Allegiance to be removed from every school classroom in this nation is a violation of the fundamental principle of our Constitution." In the case of Newdow vs. Congress, the Judge stated that it had been a while since the majorities religious beliefs had been gone against. The greater part