By: Mary Mostert, Analyst, Banner of Liberty (www.bannerofliberty.com)
July 3, 2002
Even the atheist father who brought the action, Michael Newdow of Sacramento, admitted that his daughter's teacher or school district never required her to participate in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Yet, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied all children the right to say the Pledge because, Newdow claimed, "his daughter was injured when she is compelled to 'watch and listen as her state-employed teacher in her state-run school leads her classmates in a ritual proclaiming that there is a god and that our's (sic) is one nation under God.'"
Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931), a Baptist minister and chairman of a committee of State Superintendents of education in the National Education Association, wrote the original Pledge of Allegiance in August 1892. The introduction of the Pledge to school children was planned for the 400th anniversary of Columbus day. There was no mention of God in the original Pledge, which I recited in school during the 1930s and 1940s.
Bellamy, a Christian Socialist, hoped the Pledge would implant in the minds of the students his socialist concepts of the French Revolution "Liberty, Justice, Equality," and force the children of recently defeated Civil War Confederates to repeat daily that the United States was "one nation." Shortly before writing the Pledge he was ousted as minister of the Bethany Baptist Church in Boston for preaching socialism in his sermons. He conducted a series on "The Socialism of the Primitive Church" and gave a speech called "Jesus the Socialist." Speaking on the day the Pledge was first recited, Bellamy said:
"We assemble here that we, too, may exalt the free school that embodies the American principle of universal enlightenment and equality; the most characteristic product of our four centuries of American life...One institution more than any other has wrought out the achievements of the past, and is today the most trusted for the future.
"Our fathers in their wisdom knew that the foundations of liberty, fraternity and equality must be universal education. The free school, therefore, was conceived as the cornerstone of the Republic. Washington and Jefferson recognized that the education of citizens is not the prerogative of church or of other private interest: that while religious training belongs to the church, and while technical and higher culture may be given by private institutions--the training of citizens in the common knowledge and the common duties of citizenship belongs irrevocably to the State."
The words "under God," were added in 1954 by a bill proposed by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men's organization. It was passed in Congress and signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Adding "under God" to his pristine socialist pledge undoubtedly had Francis Bellamy, who wouldn't even ATTEND church in his later years, twirling in his grave.
So, how did we get from the Pledge being a Left-wing concept to the almost unanimous outrage by the Left and the Right we are seeing at it being declared unconstitutional by the 9th District Court of Appeals?
It appears that neither side wants the courts to mess around with the Pledge of Allegiance as terrorists seek to destroy the nation. Today, the most ardent supporters of the Pledge are not the Socialists or socialist leaning liberals, but conservative Republicans who, correctly, point out that this nation WAS founded "under God" and dismissing God from the Pledge is a grievous offense against the nation's national history and reason for existence.
Even Francis Bellamy said, in explaining why he wrote the Pledge: "It began as an intensive communing with salient points of our national history, from the Declaration of Independence onwards; with the makings of the Constitution...with the meaning of the Civil War; with the aspiration of the people..."
Regardless of what people may believe, or not believe, today, there is no way to evade the fact that the Founding Fathers believed their actions were guided by God. Benjamin Franklin observed, when the Constitutional Convention was deadlocked, "In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard - and they were graciously answered.
"I have lived, Sir, a long time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if the sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire, Sir, can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that 'except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.' I firmly believe this; and I also believe that, without his concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.
"I therefore beg leave to move that, henceforth, prayers imploring the assistance of heaven and its blessing on our deliberations be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business."
And, to this very day, that occurs in the Halls of Congress. Only our children, our vulnerable and frightened little ones, are being denied any comforting public acknowledgement of God in this time of terror.
I believe that liberty and justice applies to my grandchildren, as well as to members of Congress and the U.S. Supreme court that open their work each day with appeals to God. Why do we discriminate against our little ones? Why should members of Congress be allowed to acknowledge God during their workday, but our children, who attend often physically, as well as emotionally threatening public schools, be denied even a moment of silence to reflect or pray to God when their workday begins?
This is blatant discrimination against the children. Of course, it also subtly teaches the children to reject their parents moral and religious teachings in the home, which appears to still be a prime goal of the National Education Association and the liberals.
To comment: mmostert@bannerofliberty.com
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