The Supreme Court: No Hostility to God

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.

When Congress added the words "under God" to the familiar pledge in 1954, New York State's Education Commissioner James E. 'Allen was legally bound to recommend that schools go along.

There was scarcely a suggestion that to do so would raise a constitutional issue.

After all, U.S. public life is filled with allusions to God—"This nation under God" (Gettysburg Address), "Great God, our king" (America), "So help me, God" (congressional oath of office). The Supreme Court itself opens with the cry: "God save the United States and this honorable court." But the Supreme Court's subsequent bans on public school prayers in 1962 and 1963 led many Americans to think that the mere word "God" had suddenly become unconstitutional. And two agnostics were already suing New York's Commissioner Allen on the ground that the amended pledge imposed "compulsion on the young children of nonbelievers" and violated the First Amendment.

Not only did the New York Court of Appeals rule against the agnostics, but last week the Supreme Court left the ruling intact by refusing to review the case. The Court was being consistent: its 1963 decision merely held that the First Amendment forbids state-sponsored or government-supported religion. It has never endorsed hostility to God, only the separation of church and state.