The Pledge Under God

Max Pozel Natalie Farr The Power of Thinking 11 September 2008 Why the Pledge of Allegiance Should Be Revised Critical Analysis

“The United States of America” and “under God” are two phrases which have been added to the original Pledge of Allegiance, published 116 years ago. “The United States of America” was added in 1923 and was placed after the words “my Flag (Wilde, 47).” “My Flag” was deemed too confusing for the massive wave of immigrants after World War I and The Pledge of Allegiance needed to become a symbol of national unity with the influx of new citizens. The independence offered in the phrase “my Flag” became the omnipresent “the Flag of the United States of America (47).” Gwen Wilde writes that the Pledge of Allegiance uses “God as a divisive weapon (50).” The author’s argument can be overturned by the worship practices of 3% of the American population. In Judaism, the word for God goes unspoken in prayer. The word can only be written. Wilde writes, “Millions of loyal Americans say [the Pledge of Allegiance] (50).” If the Jew chooses to say “God” and if he or she believes the Jewish God is different than the American God, then the Jew is stuck as either a disloyal follower of Judaism or a “disloyal” American. Wilde chooses to speak of 3% of Americans who

acknowledge the power of the word “God” in loyal silence in disloyal allegiance to their country or vice versa. Wilde’s strategy is to separate the Flag from Religion because as she devises a way to subtract God from the Pledge she must also subtract religion and worship. She mentions honoring the Flag and writes of loyalty to country, but there is no mention of an honorable God. This is ineffective because all Americans live “under” the Flag and “under God. (47)” The author begins with “All Americans are familiar with the Pledge of Allegiance, even if they cannot always recite it perfectly.” She goes on to say that “the original Pledge did not include the words ‘under God’ (47).” The Pledge of 1892 was two lines long and consisted of 23 words. The effect of two major wars has caused the Pledge to undergo two changes, which have added eight words to the original poem. The first edit came after World War I with the unifying of the line “my Flag” and “the Republic” to “the United States of America.” “To the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands (p. 47).” During the buildup of World War II, the Pledge became official and was subsequently changed in 1954 by a former general and then President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He approved the addition of the words “under God” immediately before the word “indivisible.”

Gwen states her point in paragraph four, “In my view, the addition of the words “under God” is inappropriate, and they are needlessly divisive – an odd addition indeed to a Nation that is said to be “indivisible (47).” In my view, the addition of “of the United States of America” is more divisive than “under God,” which is also the more recent addition to the Pledge. Wilde gives statistics showing that between 73%-83% of Americans believe in “God” (48). The phrase is naturally divisive. However, until “of the United States of America” was added in 1923, the poem had no attachment to “the Nation.” There were only 12 years between the two changes in the Pledge in which the pledge was officially sanctioned by the United States Flag Code and did not include the word God (48). Wilde is unconvincing in her argument because she does not use the history of the Pledge to justify her position and its relation to modern religious and social tones in the United States. She does not base her own regard for the subject with any reverence toward any individuals formerly involved with the Pledge nor studies the emotional impact of the people who were most affected by the decision to add words to the Pledge. Wilde chooses to not read the past and follows her own logic of religiosity statistics and fails to produce any emotional effect on the reader.

There is nothing to back her up besides her misery in knowing that American citizens must recite the Pledge in fear, yet she makes no effort to conquer, or even identify the root of her fears, which is the American government. She does not recognize time as a significant historical point of reference for Eisenhower’s position and its relation to the time in which he lived. She fails to convince the reader of the significance of Eisenhower’s decision to add the words “under God” to the Pledge when she does not draw similarities or differences between her own emotion from the subject and he who created the phrase. This period from 1942-1954 was arguably the bloodiest since the Pledge was created. Eisenhower mentioned the pledge as a “spiritual weapon which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource in peace and war (48).” “Of the United States of America” condensed “my Flag” to “the Flag of the United States” and separated each citizen’s independent democratic view of America. And the addition of “under God” separated those who believe in God and those who do not. The majority of Americans, as stated by Wilde, believe in God. This describes the historical actions of a former WWII general who oppositely describes the phrase “under God” during America’s bloodiest time as a “spiritual weapon” and “the country’s most powerful resource (48).” In my view, the original phrase “my Flag” describes what it means to be “one Nation under God.” The Flag is

under God, and therefore America worships the Flag – and to whom do you direct a gesture toward history? It is every American’s right to acknowledge the unreal or imagined. It is hard to decipher when a people are in the throes of war and when total peace has been achieved and appreciated by their own government. The Pledge is a spiritual weapon in one country’s fight between War and Peace. Eisenhower placed his faith in the American government but announced that without an all-knowing, all-powerful presence larger than he and his country, believed to rule America itself by the majority of his citizens, there could be no peace. Wilde writes on page 48, “If one doesn’t express this belief [in divine power] one is – according to the Pledge – somehow not fully American, maybe even un-American (49).” I disagree with this statement because any recitation of the Pledge is American. The Pledge of Allegiance is to the American Flag and even a person in Israel speaking the Pledge is speaking the American Pledge of Allegiance. I understand Wilde when she says not everyone expresses belief in divine power, but over 50 years ago Eisenhower chose to promote peace in America through the addition of thewords “one Nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. On page 49, Gwen Wilde says the phrase “under God” “does not describe a reality” in response to Chief Justice Rehnquist’s description of the phrase “as it describes something, real or imagined.” I argue

that the history of the words give the phrase “under God” meaning. “History,” like “God,” can be described as real or imagined and I believe in the history of God.

Works Cited Wilde, Gwen. "Why the Pledge of Allegiance Should Be Revised." Creative Thinking, Reading, and Writing. Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008.