This blog has pointed out several times that the First Amendment is not meant to keep religion out of government. There is an interesting discussion of this very point this year because of a strongly-approved bill from Congress that would add the phrase "In God We Trust" and the Pledge of Allegiance to the building known as the Capitol Visitors Center. Some feel this is establishing a national religion. (The Pledge is objectionable to them because of its phrase "under God.")
Our founders did not see to find such ideas accurate, at least based on their early actions. It's probably safe to assume that the same men who debated and ratified the Constitution understood it more clearly than we do today.
In this blog's post titled "In God We Trust - Banned at U.S. Capitol?" I have discussed the issue. After all, the First Amendment prohibits from making a LAW establishing a national religion. Carving these words in the building is hardly making a law.
American Conservative Daily has a post that has some interesting discussion on the same issue. Read more here.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Is the Pledge of Allegiance Unconstitutional?
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2 comments:
1) The founders did not create a national pledge, and the motto was "E Pluribus Unum".
2) Here's the linkd for the statute that defines the pledge of allegiance (meaning, it is a law).
http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/04C1.txt
LexAequitas,
Thanks for contributing your comment.
No argument with your facts. However, the code you state is not the type of law addressed in the First Amendment. It does not establish a national religion. In the words of James Madison (Founding Father, considered father of the 1st Amendment):
"The First Amendment was prompted because the people feared one sect might obtain preeminence, or two combine together and establish a religion to which they would compel others to conform."
The code, or "law" as you say, does not compel anyone to say the pledge.
The founders had NO problem recognizing God, starting with our Declaration of Independence (rights come from our "Creator" with a capital C). Or consider our National Anthem, which was written after the Constitution and contains recognition of God in the last stanza:
"...Praise the Power [note the capital "P"] that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just--
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust !"
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