In September of 2011, the White House rolled out their “We The People” initiative in which people can create petitions online and if the petition gets enough digital signatures the White House will issue an official response. Since atheists dominate the internet, the petition asking for the removal of “Under God” from the official Pledge of Allegiance generated over 20 thousand digital signatures. Now the White House has officially responded.
Joshua DuBois, Executive Director of the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, has issued an official response which is just stunning. His claim on behalf of the Obama Administration is that the phrase “Under God” in our official Pledge of Allegiance does not constitute any endorsement of religion.
The original pledge was written by Baptist Minister Francis Bellamy in 1892 and did not contain the phrase, “Under God.” The phrase was added to the official pledge in 1954 as part of the McCarthy Era hysteria in response to Communism. Since then, many Christians have pointed to this phrase and other similar McCarthy Era references as evidence that America is a Christian Nation.
While DuBois is correct in his claim that not all references to God in the public square constitute a breach in the Jeffersonian Wall of separation between church and state, this one definitely does. This is a nationally endorsed pledge school children are expected to take on a daily basis and many other Americans are expected to recite at various functions to show allegiance to this country. For the White House to claim that it does not represent an endorsement of the Abrahamic religion is absurd.
The phrase “Under God” explicitly excludes non-theistic Americans and yet we are expected to pledge our allegiance to this concept. Such phrasing is intentionally divisive and that is why a petition was made in the first place. It is one thing for the Administration to simply state that it is not a priority, but for them to put out an official statement defending this divisive tool of discrimination is unconscionable.
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