The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August 1892 by Baptist minister Francis Bellamy (1855-1931). It was originally published in The Youth's Companion on September 8, 1892.
In its original form, it read:
I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
In 1923, the words, “the Flag of the United States of America” were added. At this time, it read:
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
In 1954, in response to the Communist threat of the times, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words “under God,” creating the 31-word pledge we say today. Today it reads:
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.
Our pledge of allegiance was seemingly on solid ground until 1954 when a religious context was added to its affirmations. I say seemingly, because it had come under scrutiny even before the phrase was added. In 1940, the court ruled in Minersville School District v. Gobitis that forcing Jehovah’s Witnesses to recite the pledge in school was not a violation of their religious freedom (Jehovah’s Witnesses consider saluting a flag an act of worship). Three years later, the court reversed this decision in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette in another case involving Jehovah’s Witnesses, ruling that forcing students to recite the pledge was a violation of their First Amendment rights. It seems the atheist supports the effort, stating. “Initially, our Pledge of Allegiance was a proclamation of patriotism and support by our citizens to the flag and our republic, for those who took the pledge. Since the insertion of “under God” into our Pledge of Allegiance, “under God” has become associated with patriotism, and they're a form of religious persecution for those who do not believe and object to saying that phrase when reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.”
Even Bellamy’s great-granddaughter affirms with similar sentiments, In 2002 she wrote a letter to the New York Times, stating:
My great-grandfather Francis Bellamy wrote the Pledge of Allegiance in 1892 for the widely read magazine Youth's Companion. A deeply religious man, he was also a strict believer in the separation of church and state, one who opposed parochial schools [Of, relating to, supported by, or located in a parish.] on the grounds that the state should educate its children. He intended the pledge to be a unifying statement for those same children.
By adding the phrase “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, Congress was attempting to distinguish the politics of the United States from godless Communism. Like other actions taken by Congress at that time, this change divided our nation further rather than uniting its citizens.
In all probability, Bellamy himself would have objected to the addition of the phase. In the first few decades, schools, and organizations that chose to recite a pledge used variations of Bellamy’s or made up their own pledges. However, on June 22, 1942, just over six months after the United States entered World War II, the U.S. government officially recognized a standard version of the pledge for the first time. Franklin D. Roosevelt established it when he signed the U.S. Flag Code. In February 1954, Eisenhower attended a sermon by Reverend George Docherty at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. that greatly influenced his ideas on the subject.
“To omit the words ‘under God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance is to omit the definitive factor in the American way of life,” Docherty preached. He discounted the right of atheists to object, arguing that an “atheistic American is a contradiction in terms,” because if “you deny the Christian ethic, you fall short of the American ideal of life.”
With Eisenhower on board, the campaign to adopt the phrase had more momentum. On June 14, Flag Day, Eisenhower signed a law adding “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance. Two years later, Eisenhower also made “In God We Trust” the United States’ official motto (it did not appear on paper currency or stamps before the 1950s). As a result, we now acknowledge in the pledge to our nation that it is indeed a nation under God. Of course, everyone who says the pledge just assumes it's their god, that is except the atheist, and therein lies the problem.
The addition of “under God” to the pledge led to new lawsuits about whether it violated the rights of students and teachers. Over the next several decades, similar cases were filed in different states, with the most prominent cases reaching federal courts and even the U.S. Supreme Court in the 21st century.
Following the Barnette decision, the legal status of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools became clear: schools can permit or encourage its recitation, but they cannot compel students to participate. Students have the right to opt out of participation without facing any disciplinary action or penalty. This protection extends to students who choose not to participate for religious, philosophical, or other reasons.
While state laws may vary regarding the specific times or ways the Pledge is offered, none can mandate student participation. Schools generally accommodate students who decide not to participate by allowing them to remain silent, sit, or leave the room. The focus remains on respecting individual liberties while still allowing for patriotic expression. But that doesn’t solve the issue for the atheist, because they still want to express their patriotism, remaining silent or leaving the room is not an option. They want to recite the pledge without having to express any allegiance to a deity. They could just not say the phrase “under God” but as long as it’s in the pledge, the pledge itself is going to carry that connotation by necessity.
The Pledges' survival in the future, like everything else, is uncertain. The only thing that is certain, is that everything changes over time. The religious sentiment of the United States has had its ebbs and tides over the years. According to the Pew Research Center, Christians have been declining as a percentage of the U.S. adult population, while the share that is religiously unaffiliated has been rising. The religiously unaffiliated are defined as “nones.” The “nones” are made up of U.S. adults who describe themselves as atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular” when asked about their religion. The “nones” currently hold about 30% of the population. Religion in America has certainly changed, and when a nation’s religious sentiment changes, everything else move with it.
The fact the Pledge was challenged after the 1954 insertion of the “under God” phrase is not surprising. We should never expect to be able to please everybody, someone is always going to challenge anything broadly effecting the population, no matter what it is. These social changes just reflect the consensus of the people at any given time in American history. If the “none” increase to a majority of the population percentage wise, it would not be surprising to see the Pledge undergo another revision. When it does, it will most likely be challenged by the other side.
It would have been fine to have left the phrase “Under God” out of the pledge, to make that affirmation was never the intent of the pledge in the first place. However, inserting it only reflected the general sentiment of the United States population at the time. There is no Constitutional restriction on the reflection of the religious sentiment of the nation. That has been a part of the American culture from the very beginning.
Sarah Grotjan, a daughter of an officer from the War for Independence, once wrote to Jefferson on January 1, 1824. She explained that he is the namesake and godfather for her son, and requested that Jefferson leave guidance for him. Grotjan stated:
This testimony of one of the fathers of our blessed country, will be to me the most invaluable bequest; and should, which God grant, my son grows up to manhood, and inherit the spirit of his father & mother, it will be to him a talisman, calculated to operate on him through the course of his life. It will stimulate him to imitate the virtues of those heroes and sages, whom it was not his fate to know, but to whom he will feel himself drawn as by consanguinity [blood relation]. Being in possession of the only posthumous testimony in the power of mortals to give.
Thomas Jefferson was apparently moved to write back with advice and encouragement. So, nine days later, he wrote back to the newborn Thomas Jefferson Grotjan:
Your affectionate mother requests that I would address to you, as a namesake, something which might have a favorable influence on the course of life you have to run. Few words are necessary, with good dispositions on your part. Adore God; reverence and cherish your parents; love your neighbor as yourself, and your country more than life. Be just; be true; murmur not at the ways of Providence—and the life into which you have entered will be one of eternal and ineffable bliss. And if to the dead it is permitted to care for the things of this world, every action of your life will be under my regard. Farewell.
In America, one has always been free to express their religious sentiment both publicly and privately. Political aspirations were often enhanced by the candidate’s religious sentiments. George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation was conducive to the action taken upon the pledge Proclamation.
[New York, 3 October 1789]
By the President of the United States of America. a Proclamation.
Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being. He is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed—for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted—for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.
and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions—to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually—to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed—to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord—To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us—and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand at the City of New-York, the third day of October in the year of our Lord, 1789.
Go: Washington
The newly instituted United States Constitution was fresh on the minds of the Founders, yet there was no objection to a public acknowledgment of God in a national day of Thanksgiving. No objection to calling upon the American people to set a day aside to do so. No objection in doing so in public stations as well as private. This day of Thanksgiving was recommended to all Americans, much like the Pledge of Allegiance is recommended at various times and places in our country. No one was coursed or prosecuted after President Washington’s Proclamation, nor is anyone today, where the Pledge is recited. These recommendations and proclamations are simply a reflection of who we are as people. If Washington’s America had been predominantly atheist and the Constitution still looked like it does today, it would have been just as happy without Washington’s proclamation as it was with it. The atheist lives in a nation whose roots grow deep in the Judeo-Christian religion, the remnants of which is offensive to them. They say they don’t mind religious people being religious, they just want them to separate it from their public life, especially if it’s political. Of course, that’s not possible, one’s religion defines who they are. It’s like religious people saying to the atheist, we don’t mind you being an atheist, you just have to be religious in public and politics.
The religious sentiment in America is certainly changing, and that without a doubt will be reflected in the culture of our society. Our public sentiment will shift from offending the atheist to offending those of a religious nature. Many festivities are celebrated in American today that are very offensive to Christians as well as other faiths. When it comes to any society, there is always going to be the conflict between the “religious” and the “nones”. That will continue until one or the other are gone, then we will find something else to fight about.
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