Our Pledge of Allegiance did not exist in its original form for very long. Before the 1950's, minor, insignificant changes had been made to the Pledge of Allegiance. On Flag Day, June 14th, 1954 the most dramatic transformation took place. The tense times of the Cold War had heightened hatred towards communism. In an attempt to single out "godless commies" and restore religious faith in America, the words "under god" were added to the Pledge of Allegiance after approval from President Dwight D. Eisenhower ("The story of the pledge of allegiance"). The new and current version of the Pledge reads as this:
I pledge allegiance to the Flag
of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one nation under God indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all
Uses of "God" to represent a country that legally can not establish itself with any specific religion will not be over looked. This is because our national motto and Pledge of Allegiance are present virtually everywhere. You can find "In God We Trust" on every modern piece of currency being produced. The only bills not displaying it are the ones before 1957 and the only coins without it are ones predating the late 1800's, but unfortunately those are not in circulation anymore. "In God We Trust" has made it's mark on billions and billions of dollars, and plenty more coins that we see multiple times a day. It has even snuck its way into our school system. Laws have been passed requiring the display of the motto in most public schools. Our national motto is also displayed on many government buildings and monuments.
The Pledge of Allegiance is scarcely distributed, but most commonly in schools. In fact, forty-three of the fifty states require the schools to broadcast the Pledge. Until the Supreme Court case, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943), schools required the students to recite the Pledge. In West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette the Jackson court ruled that it is a violation of an individual's liberty to force them to pledge a belief that is opposite of one's own religion ("Campus Research"). Even the state's desire to have uniformity among all students was not enough to overturn the Supreme Court's decision of allowing students the right to abstain from saying the pledge ("Campus Research"). This case was significant because it overturned the 1940 case Minersville School District v. Gobitis ("Campus Research").
In the past, many other courts have dealt with cases of a broader topic. The decisions of the court and the significance of certain cases like the following can be used as a basis to determine the constitutionality of the Pledge and National Motto. The Supreme Court ruled in Engel v. Viale (1962) that prayer in New York schools was unconstitutional ("Campus Research"). They based their decision on the idea that this, and other religious activities, violated the Establishment Clause regardless of their voluntary, nondenominational character. Similarly, in Abington v. Schempp (1963), the Supreme Court ruled that mandated bible readings in public schools violated the Establishment Clause ("Campus Research"). In Lee v. Weisman (1991) a decision was also made that a graduation prayer was unconstitutional in public schools ("Campus Research").
The courts have not always decided that religion and government should be separated. In Marsh v. Chambers (1983), the Supreme Court upheld the ruling that opening Nebraska state legislative meetings with a prayer was allowed because it ultimately lost its religious purpose and is now just a communication of shared values ("Campus Research"). The following year in Lynch v Donnelly (1984), a government displayed nativity scene was ruled to be constitutional because it represented the religious heritage of the government ("Campus Research").
Newdow v. US Congress (2002) appears in more recent news. Michael Newdow's attempt to sue Congress for unconstitutionally subjecting his eight-year-old daughter to hear "under god" everyday in school and removing the phrase altogether was denied. Their decision was based on the lack of custody Mr. Newdow had on his daughter because his ex wife was the one who had full custody. In 2005 however, the Ninth Circuit Court of California decided he had the right to represent his child despite previous decisions. In his second attempt, he came back as his own lawyer to represent other parents as well. In the case, two judges on his side affirmed, "Mr. Newdow's interest was particularly strong given the issues in the case" ("Judge decides..."). The courts ruled that the phrase "under god" in the Pledge of Allegiance actually established religion. The Federal Court's decision was upheld because "The Constitution," the court said, "prohibited public schools and other government bodies from endorsing religion" ("Judge decides..."). Since the Supreme Court did not see the case yet, not all states were affected by the decision.
