The customary acceptance of "God" in our national motto and in the Pledge of Allegiance is not a legal interpretation of our first amendment. Our present national motto is "In God We Trust" and the present Pledge of Allegiance contains the phrase "...one nation under god..." Although the present versions of both are religiously derived, they actually originated with no references to "God." The original national motto and the Pledge lasted until during the McCarthy era when the religious addition became standard. The currency on the other hand became faith-based during the civil war era. By presenting a universal belief in "God" amongst all citizens, the government is misrepresenting its citizens and breaking the first amendment's establishment clause. In addition, the Supreme Court denies most attempts to remove the unconstitutional representation that all citizens of America are Christian. Many strong arguments against the legislation of religious involvement for the national motto and our pledge have been presented but a majority turned down. It is time for our government to construct alternatives in order to constitutionally represent its citizens.
It is essential to begin by mentioning the Founding Fathers of the United States in order to determine the constitutionality of the nation's motto and pledge of allegiance. Our founding fathers created the Constitution in order to provide a basis of equality and order. But there was a problem. They recognized that our Constitution was not perfect, and so they amended it. The area of our first amendment that relates to religious freedom states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." The broadness of the establishment clause leads to two popular interpretations.
Pro-religion-in-government supporters feel that this gives the government the right to exercise a belief in Christianity while others, against religion in government, interpret this as no specific religion can be recognized. To clarify the true meaning of the Establishment Clause in a letter he wrote to a Danbury Baptist, Thomas Jefferson commented "... legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."
As many people may not know, the national motto began with no mention of "God". The original "E Pluribus Unum," which in Latin means "One from many," was coined as our national motto by our founding fathers. It was established to coincide with the first amendment and did not, in any way, shape, or form, falsely represent America. Rather than separating Americans, it united them as a whole.
Many people are also unaware that The Pledge of Allegiance did not originate with religious derivations. The Pledge actually was written by Francis Bellamy as part of a national school program for Columbus Day in October 1892 ("Original Pledge"). The first version read as follows:
I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all
Francis, a socialist editor and clergyman, wrote this to reflect the views of his cousin Edward Bellamy and many utopian novelists (sfgate.com "Original Pledge"). He had no intentions of it turning into one of the most controversial issues today (sfgate.com "Original Pledge").
Unfortunately, these constitutional representations did not last long. During the late 1800's a campaign rallied to include "God" in our constitution. One action was a letter that arrived in the mail box of Secretary of Treasury Salmon P. Chase in 1861 from Rev. M.R. Watkinson ("The Original National Motto"). In his letter, the reverend offered suitable phrases to place on our currency. His possible suggestions included "Our Trust Is In God," "Our God And Our Country," "God And Our Country," "God Our Trust," and the familiar "In God We Trust" ("The Original National Motto"). During the Civil War era, the phrase was only placed on certain coins. In fact, the Coinage Act was passed in 1864 to legally included "In God We Trust" on all coins. Through the years, more and more coins began carrying this familiar motto. The trend of increasing the exposure of "In God We Trust" would continue in years to come. By the end of the 1950's, the application of "In God We Trust" had been marked on all U.S. coins and was then applied to paper currency in 1957.
The 1950's brought a new focus of use for "In God We Trust." It all started with the Cold War. The high tensions caused by the Cold War lead to an increasing hatred towards "atheist commies" (sfgate.com "Original Motto"). The red scares, a.k.a. McCarthyism, took place during this same time period. This was similar to Salem, Massachusetts' witch scares, but Senator McCarthy was accusing nearly every government official of being a communist. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a law in 1956 that instituted "In God We Trust" as our national motto and required it on all currency. This was all an attempt to meet the rising demand for religious revival and spot out communism in America (sfgate.com "Pledge of Allegiance").
