Prior to 1954 the words "
under God" were not in the
pledge of allegiance. They were added under pressure from
Christian leaders in a time of heightened
nationalism and Communist fear in America. This period in
American history was heavily
authoritarian and ripe with the automaton conformity of it's citizens. Today, only 3/4 of Americans believe in the Christian
god mentioned in the pledge. Therefore, tens of millions of US citizens are left out.
I have a lot of trouble when arguing about the "Christian Nation" with people. To deny that this is a nation founded by almost exclusively Christians is to deny the facts. However, to not understand that our Constitution was written by men of the Enlightenment is to be ignorant. They saw the problems of the mixing of church and state regardless of whether they were a Calvinist, a Baptist, a Deist, or an Atheist.
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