A Big Step Toward Censorship: Deleting God from the Pledge of Allegiance

A few years ago, one court, in a move toward censorship, ruled that the Pledge of Allegiance should not be recited because of the words "under God." While some may agree, we need to recognize that removing the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance is one big step not only in removing religion from public life, but also toward censorship. While many courts acknowledge the religious foundation of America, other courts seek to rewrite the historical foundations of our laws by ordering the Ten Commandments and any mention of God, historical or not, removed from public places, regardless of the will of the majority of the people. This is nothing less than censorship by judicial decree.

Suppressing the mention of God from public places, public documents and public life means not only a rewrite of history, but is also blatant censorship. Why? Because almost every American historical document alludes to God as our protector and source. Our forefathers never intended to separate faith from public life. Their aim was simply to make sure, unlike many European nations, the government didn't run the church. They wanted nothing to do with censorship with regard to faith or with a government that would tell us what to think, say and believe.

If we are no longer able to openly speak the name of God in school, these quotes will never be heard and our nation's history will become a mockery of revisionism and censorship.

"They tell us, Sir, that we are weak-unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? ...Beside, Sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, Sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. -Patrick Henry. Certainly Patrick Henry would have disagreed with the concept that public figures should never acknowledge a superior being.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." -The Declaration of Independence. Obviously, those who wrote our Declaration of Independence did not plan to censor God from public life. They would have been the first to cry, "Censorship!"

When the phrase "under God" was added by Congress in 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower didn't see the addition as censorship. He said, "In this way we are affirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource in peace and war."

George Washington said, "It would be particularly improper to omit in this official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States.... No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have distinguished by some token of providential agency." What would the father of our country think about the censorship of his beliefs and his words by media, government or schools?

Finally, "As we have been assured neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor thing to come, nor height nor depth, can separate from God's love. May He bless the souls of the departed. May He comfort our own. And may He always guide our country. God bless America." -George W. Bush. The president got flak for quoting scripture. Are our leaders going to be hesitant about quoting from the Bible that is rich in wise sayings? Sounds like unreasonable censorship.

It is time to stop the erosion of our past and acknowledge the truth embodied in the Pledge of Allegiance--our founders believed that God had a hand in shaping this nation. Whatever our background, there is no justification for censorship or in burying this in rhetoric and political correctness.

Pledge of Allegiance is just one battlefront of censorship and one that has been revived. If censorship forces the deletion of "under God" from our pledge, we may also soon lose the right to read unedited versions of most of our historical documents without censorship. If censorship of our history and our public documents becomes a reality, how long before anything and everything is open to censorship?

We are one people, one nation under God, something the Pledge of Allegiance acknowledges, and something our forerunners firmly believed. We need to be vigilant in opposing the censorship of our historical foundations and reacquaint ourselves with the 23 words that make up the Pledge of Allegiance.

"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."