Separation Between Church and State: Existent?

Why fix something if it’s not broken? This is a fundamental question that clearly and definitively illustrates the involvement of religion in the doctrine of the United States – that is to say, the separation (or lack thereof) of church and state. To me, the most blatantly illustrative document that we read this past week was the Pledge of Allegiance. Prior to 1954 (it was initially written in 1892), the Pledge of Allegiance contained no hint of religion or the word “God.” Eisenhower then added the words “under God” and, in my opinion, created a standard of sorts that God would be included in many of the country’s policies. This is simply not okay. Why would we need to change the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States in order to make it involve God unless we felt like our nation should be tied to God, and, in turn, religion? We wouldn’t. Now when I say we, I clearly am not talking about the entire population. Sixteen percent of the population is unaffiliated with a religion, and a percentage of those people do not even believe in a God at all. Why should they have to involve God in their pledge of allegiance to their country? They shouldn’t. We are supposedly a secular nation. However, I would argue that we are not. The common way to end a political speech now is to say, “God bless America.” We don’t say “Allah bless America,” or even “Bless America;” we directly tie religion into politics through actions like these.

To me, the reason that this is such an issue is because of our claim that we are a secular nation. Though we may claim this, we undercut this claim with the actions I have previously stated. Faith in God is a deeply personal thing, and extremely different for each person, both believers and non-believers. To generalize it, to apply it to an entire nation, cheapens the importance of God to certain individuals, as well as makes the statement that our nation looks to the Christian model of God. If an individual who knew nothing of the United States (particularly its religious affiliations) were to read the Pledge of Allegiance or speeches from recent Presidents, or look at the dollar bill, there is little doubt in my mind that this individual would classify the United States as a clearly non-secular, clearly Christian nation. This begs the question: are we?

1“The Pledge of Allegiance.” Bellamy, Francis. Modified by Eisnehower, Dwight D.