If America is meant to be a secular state why does it say in the Pledge of Allegiance “One nation, under God”?

29 comments

1. It was added in the 1950s and shouldn’t be there.

   It was an ignorant attempt to separate the righteous and good America from the evil and therefore atheist Soviet communists

2. To own the commies.

3. That was added somewhat recently as an anti-communist slogan

   All the “in god we trust” stuff on the money was added around the same time for similar reasons. 1950s or so

4. America being secular was more in that they didn’t want to choose one specific form of Christianity to be considered correct as a state religion, as they were plenty of varieties of Christianity that different people belong to.

   But this was still a culture where the overwhelming majority of people were religious and believed in Christianity, so even if officially the US government didn’t consider the church to be an authority, people still had their religious beliefs influence things like the nation’s motto.

5. Gotta fight those godless commies. Yes this was the reason under God was added in the 1950s.

6. How can you have order in a state without religion? For, when one man is dying of hunger near another who is ill of surfeit, he cannot resign himself to this difference unless there is an authority which declares ‘God wills it thus.’ Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet.

   [Napoleon Bonaparte]

7. I’m agnostic and would prefer the “under God” hadn’t been added, but it’s a misconception that America is supposed to be secular. The relevant part of the 1st Amendment says:

   > Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

   That means there can be no official US Government religion, i.e. in the vein of the Anglican Church in England. It doesn’t mean god (or God or gods or goddesses) can’t be invoked, but they can’t be invoked as rationale for legislation or action.

8. Because it’s a tradition. And no one said America is supposed to be a secular state. You are free to follow whatever religion you want, or none at all. The Pledge of Allegiance always isn’t required to be said and you legally can not be forced to say it (doesn’t stop that from happening but that’s a different issue).

9. Like others have said, it’s NOT in the original. If we tried getting rid of it, republicans would have a meltdown.

10. During the Second Red Scare the government did a lot of things because they thought communist groups were infiltrating the government. Pledging your allegiance to both god and country was supposed to show your loyalty to the United States in times of heightened tension between the USA and USSR.

11. As other people have mentioned, it was added during the Cold War as an anti-communist statement. Congress could get rid of it if they wanted. But it would cause a major political backlash for something that fundamentally doesn’t matter. So it kind of stuck around.

    And regarding the idea of the US government being secular more generally, you’re thinking of the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment. It states that the government can’t establish an official state religion. However, the Supreme Court has ruled that symbolic issues like this are cases of “civic deism.” That even though they reference religion, it has a broader meaning that makes it constitutional. For example, a lot of war memorials have crosses for the dead.

    I’m skeptical of this interpretation, but that’s the current precedent for court cases on this topic.

12. Its a continuation of the founding Christianity for many laws and customs in the US. People forget that states (Virginia, Connecticut, etc..) existed long before the United States itself. As far back as mid 17th century the territories invoked Christian God in their legal and judicial statements.

13. I used to say the pledge every day in school, its to unite us against common threats

14. As everyone else is saying to fight communism. On the same subject I wish we’d change the national motto back to the Latin motto. It fits this nation better.

15. as the others say, to fight the commies. but it has some ideological roots in it, the founding fathers wanted a separation of Church and State but they didnt want Christianity to just be entirely absent from society. a good bit of the states are Christian and a good bit of them value their nation, America, as subservient to God. loyal to God first, America second.

16. What do you mean with ”meant to be”?

17. E pluribus unum or bust.

18. As has been said, as with so many other things it’s an artifact from the Cold War.

19. It was added as an anti communist measure. Personally it don’t bother me I don’t care

20. Which God?

21. Makes commies and redditors mad. Good reason to keep it there tbh.

22. The words “under God” was added in 1954 during the second [Red Scare](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare) period of American history. It was done so as indirect opposition to the Soviet Union, which was officially an atheist state.

    Of course, it doesn’t really matter. The pledge has always been just a tradition, not a requirement.

    Even before ‘Under God’ was added, [WV Board of Education v Barnette](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia_State_Board_of_Education_v._Barnette) was a landmark case in 1943 that solidified nobody has to say the pledge if they don’t want to. Religious or otherwise. The Pledge is as official as an official State Saltwater Fish. It’s pretty pointless.

    It’s been 80 years and people still think we’re “forced” to say the pledge. Even some teachers, unfortunately.

23. It was only added during Cold War

24. The how did it happen is vague anti communist shit. The why we keep doing it is probably just inertia.

    I’d prefer it if we removed that and “In God We Trust.”

25. America is not a secular state nor a religious one. The 1A clause simply guarantees the government cannot force you to worship any particular God, can’t forbid you from worshipping your God according to your faith. They have no say in the matter. Well they got away with banning church services during the pandemic, but oddly nobody forced the issue very hard.

    That wording, yeah that’s perplexing. Human fallibility, I guess. Of those few that even know the words anymore, probably a lot of them skip over that phrase.

26. Because the people who instituted the extra phrase wanted to get an end-run around the “secular state” thing to further differentiate themselves from Communists.

27. It was added in the 1950s during the height of McCarthyism.

    Prior to that bit of idiocy, the official motto of the country was *e pluribus unum*, or “Out of many, one.”

28. The Pledge of Allegiance was made up in the 19th century to sell flags to schools

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance

29. Was a way to root out commies during the red scare