The Pledge of Allegiance must maintain the phrase ‘under God’ to recognize America’s religious foundation and the enduring commitment to those sacred principles and beliefs. Presently, the United States is no longer one nation ‘under God.’ We are two separate nations with two incompatibly distinct moral visions. These two ideas are aggressively competing for supremacy and permeate every level of society.

The United States is presently partaking in two wars – a war on terror and a culture war. A culture war is a ‘cold’ civil war fought in the public realm as opposed to the battlefield. A culture war ensues when two or more different cultures compete for hegemony in a society. Children are the prize to the winners because those who control what young people are taught and experience will determine the future course of the nation.

The two sides of this war are traditionalists versus secularists.

Traditionalists are those who believe that public adherence to the traditional religious and philosophical principles and values, which have built and made this country strong, are essential for the continued existence of this country. Secularists reject these principles outright and desire a state of ultra-secularism that discards the forms of religion and believe that our Constitution and public discourse should be devoid of it.

American democracy depends upon a vibrant civil society composed of families, schools, and churches. According to a recent Associate Press poll, nine out of ten people in America believe that the term ‘under God’ should stay in the Pledge of Allegiance. If the Pledge is unconstitutional, then so are the Declaration of Independence and every other historical document or inscription that recognizes the fact that this country was founded upon religious principles.

Secularists have an agenda – to socially engineer our society based on flawed logic and zealous atheism. Secularists know they cannot win in mainstream America. They instead bypass the voice of the people and elected legislatures to influence their minority agenda through well-financed groups, mainstream media, ivory tower elitists, and activist judges who unconstitutionally legislate from the bench.

The real question is: do you want a society in which God is allowed and honored outside our churches, synagogues, and mosques? Or do you want a society in which lip service is paid to Him so long as He is kept out of the real world? The Supreme Court must reject the disturbing arguments of those who seek to strip America of its religious foundation and the enduring commitment to those sacred principles and beliefs.

Christopher N. Malagisi is a graduate pursuing a master’s of Public Administration at the Maxwell School. E-mail him at cnmalagi@maxwell.syr.edu.

Published on March 28, 2004 at 12:00 pm