By: Diane Sori / The Patriot
Factor This
an opinion piece, my opinion alone, and does not necessarily
represent the views of blogspot.com.
“I
pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands,
one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” - These
were the words of America's original “Pledge
of Allegiance” written on August 1892.* In
it there was no mention of the word “God.”
Earlier this month, on Sunday May
17th, at the National Mall, our nation's capital hosted
an event for folks
to come together in “prayer,
worship, and the reading of scripture”
ahead of our nation’s “250th
Birthday,”
to
“Rededicate
our Nation to God.” And
while there is nothing wrong with the saying of prayers for our
nation, there surely is something wrong when the “rededicating”
seems to be focused on but one
particular religion's view of who and/or what“God”
is.
Why
so...because, in my
opinion, a “rededication”
of this type tries to put religion not just above what is our
Constitutional rule of law, but also has a possibly dangerous
undertone of trying to combine
a given religious ideology with power...power
manifesting in some folks wishing that our nation would become
a modern day version of a Christian based theocracy.
And when the “Pledge of
Allegiance” is thrown into this “rededication” mix
we find religion itself actually encroaching upon “separation of
church and state”...a founding principal of our nation...the
very principal that defines who we are as both Americans and as a
nation. Religious embellishments are not needed to define us for
embellishments are not tangible nor proven facts, but instead, in
this case, are but words of bravado masquerading behind a facade of
pretending to be facts...a dangerous and at times divisive religious
based “good vs. evil” scenario indeed.
And
this is why I find it odd that certain “of name”
politicians today... politicians who relish in wearing religion on
their sleeve only when pandering for votes at or near election
time...have suddenly embraced the “God rededication,” and
hooked it into our nation's upcoming “250th Birthday”
celebration. Simply, we as a nation do not need to “rededicate”
ourselves to “God” for to “rededicate” means we
were already “dedicated to God” which, in actuality, we
as a nation never were.
How so? Folks
tend to forget, or simply chose to ignore the fact that a number of
our great “Founders
and Framers”...including
Thomas
Jefferson and James Madison...saw “separation
of church and state”
as actually being necessary
to protect religious freedom, while at the same time helping to
prevent government overreach into ones personal and/or religious
life.
I do tend to think
that both Jefferson and Madison believed then, as I have always
believed, that when an individual’s private beliefs...religious or
otherwise...invades what is to be civil governance that its intention
is to be` divisive, and thus work to destroy instead of uniting “We
the People”
together.
And so these very wise
men...and some modern day presidents as well (like JFK and Reagan) ...did deem “separation” to
be the means by
which to help ensure a stable and more diverse “Republic”...a
“Republic”
for
“all the
people” free from
the confines of what are truly overly religious zealots, rhetoric, dogma, and of
course drama. And it's drama that today tends to see certain
branches of the Evangelical movement entwining
itself not only into partisan politics,
but calling those who do not share their faith or their political beliefs
“heretics,
infidels, and evil,” while
at the same time damning them to hell, of which I myself have been a
target of.
And so the truth
is that these men...these patriots...understood at the time of our
nation's founding what we all should understand today, but foolishly
many do not. And that is by keeping religion out of “secular”
government it in turn should mean keeping government out of religion,
Remember, our “Founders and Framers” hoped to assure that
the new “Republic” being formed would never fall into the
trap of, or morphing into, a theocracy...the very form of government
that did not serve the “Old World” well...the very form of
government some not so silently hope America would turn into today.
And it is this not
understanding the logic behind the “separation” concept
itself...coupled today with an unhealthy dose, for some, of what is
but an indoctrinated fear of “hell and damnation”...that
has led a multitude to want religion...in this case their particular
version of only the Christian faith... brought openly back into both
the public and political discourse, as well as into America's public
schools.
And this is also one of the
reasons why our “Founders
and Framers” were
so adamant in their “separation”
convictions, so adamant that when the Constitution was being drafted
these same men made sure that no one religion...Christianity
included...was ever to become or even hope to become the official
religion of our nation. And this is witnessed by the fact...yes
fact...that the words “Christian,”
“Jesus,” or
“ God” appears
nowhere in either the“Declaration
of Independence” or
in the “United
States Constitution.” In
fact, the only time an official document used the word “Christian”
in relation to our new nation, was in the text of the 1797 “Treaty
of Tripoli,” signed
by then President John Adams which stated these
exact words, “the
Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense,
founded on the Christian religion.”
Don't believe
me...go read those very documents for yourself...go research the
actual religious beliefs and practices of those men who put pen to
our founding papers for it will surely surprise you...apologies
accepted...as will the fact that many of our “Founders
and Framers” were
actually “Deists,”
and not Christians in
what we today consider to be the classical sense. In fact, some
famous “Deists”
at the time of our nation's founding included the aforementioned
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, as well as Benjamin Franklin,
Thomas Paine, John Adams (who outwardly rejected orthodox Christian
doctrines like the “Trinity”
and “original sin”),
Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and even George Washington himself who,
while attending church is said to have avoided the key element of
“communion.”
These men...again
these patriots...did indeed have a more what was at the time called a
“rationalist”
approach to faith itself for they jointly rejected the so called
“supernatural
elements” of
traditional Christianity while at the same time affirming a belief in
what they deemed to be but a benevolent “Creator.”
And
said “Creator”
remained
unnamed...no
words to the effect of “God”
let
alone
“Jesus”...just
the word
“Creator”
who they and their fellow “Deists”
believed
revealed himself
through “acts of
nature” solely
driven by logic and simple reasoning alone. Sounds to me like our
“Founders and
Framers” were quite
science driven in their thought processes...which again is why the
words “Christian,
Jesus, or God”
appears nowhere in any of our founding documents.
And so here let me
say that I personally do not believe or feel we need to “rededicate”
our nation to “God”...to
what is now being deemed by most to be only the Christian version of
“God”
meaning in the sense of “Jesus”...for
I am not a Christian nor do I want to be one, but know I am not an
atheist either. My personal religious beliefs are mine alone, I find
no need to make them public for I believe one's religious beliefs, or
lack thereof, should be between them, their “God,”
and their conscience.
But I will say
that as a Constitutional Republican I firmly believe in the
“separation of
church and state,”
after all we as a nation never were officially dedicated to “God”
in the first place, Constitutionally or otherwise. And the words “In
God we Trust”...which
appears on our paper currency...is in no way a “dedication,”
but merely hope and wishes for divine protection...whatever protection that might be.
However, the words
“a nation
under God“ as
stated in our
in
our current “Pledge
of Allegiance”
is not an issue, for
it is not a “dedication”
nor a “rededication”
per se, for I see it as a “reaffirmation”
to return our nation
to the Constitution...the true law of our land...the very document
whose words have been ignored and corrupted by too many for far too
long. Word semantics I know, but sometimes word semantics do need
both a semblance of justification and hence “reaffirmation.”
Case closed.
__________________________________________
Footnote
* The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August 1892 by Baptist minister
Francis Bellamy (1855-1931) who understood the importance and need for a separation between church and state, and was originally published in The Youth's Companion on September 8, 1892.
Copyright @ 2026 Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All Rights Reserved.
