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COLUMN
SEVENTY-FIVE, SEPTEMBER 1, 2002
(Copyright © 2002 The Blacklisted Journalist)
BY ARTHUR SCHLESINGER JR.
WHEN PATRIOTISM WASN'T RELIGIOUS
Subject:
FW: When Patriotism Wasn't Religious
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2002 22:17:24 -0700
From: "venire" <venire@znet.com>
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com
From http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/opinion/07SCHL.html
July
7, 2002
When
Patriotism Wasn't Religious
By
ARTHUR SCHLESINGER JR.
The
word "God" does not appear in the Constitution of the United States, a
document that erects if not quite a wall, at least a fence between church and
state. "In God We Trust" began to appear on American coins in the 19th
century, but in the early 20th century President Theodore Roosevelt, having
asked the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens to design new coinage, was relieved to
find no statute mandating "In God We Trust" on coins.
"As
the custom, altho without legal warrant, had grown up," T. R. wrote to a
clergyman distressed over the prospect of godless coins, "I might have felt
at liberty to keep the inscription had I approved of its being on the coinage.
But as I did not approve of it, I did not direct that it should again be put
on."
T.
R. expressed his "very firm conviction that to put such a motto on coins .
. . not only does no good but does positive harm." His objection to
"In God We Trust" was not constitutional; it was aesthetic. He felt
that the motto cheapened and trivialized the trust in God it was intended to
promote. "In all my life I have never heard any human being speak
reverently of this motto on the coins or show any sign of its having appealed to
any high emotion in him," he wrote. Indeed, he added, "the existence
of this motto on the coins was a constant source of jest and ridicule."
Congress,
devoted then as now to religiosity, overruled T. R. and made the motto
mandatory. A similar issue now arises from the decision by the United States
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that the insertion of the phrase
"under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional.
The
Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a former Baptist
minister, as part of the celebration of the 400th anniversary of what
our politically incorrect ancestors called Columbus's "discovery" of
America. Bellamy was a Christian socialist dedicated to the ideal of a
cooperative commonwealth. His unpopular socialist critique of capitalism from
the pulpit forced his resignation from the ministry. Soon afterward he joined
the staff of
Francis
Bellamy said on Flag Day in 1931, a short time before his death, that the pledge
was "born out of my own love of the flag and for all the lofty Americanism
it represented." Two alterations have been made in Bellamy's text. In 1924
"my flag" became "the flag of the United States of America."
And in 1954 Congress changed "one nation indivisible" into "one
nation under God, indivisible."
This
second change came about in order to emphasize the antagonism between
God-fearing Americans and godless Communists, as if that antagonism needed
reinforcement in the age of Joe McCarthy. "From this day forward,"
President Dwight D. Eisenhower said in signing the law, "the millions of
our schoolchildren will daily proclaim... the dedication of our nation and our
people to the Almighty." T. R.'s objection to the cheapening of religious
avowals had long since been forgotten. (Eisenhower also said, "Our
government makes no sense unless it is founded on a deeply held religious
belief---and I don't care what it is.")
Bellamy
"would have objected strongly to this change, as it changed the fundamental
meaning," according to his granddaughter, Barbara Bellamy Wright. "He
had considered that `One nation, indivisible' conveyed the deep meaning that
after the Civil War our nation could
Yet
a hysterical clamor has risen against the Ninth Circuit decision and in favor of
returning the pledge to the original text---a text that Americans found quite
satisfactory for nearly two-thirds of a century. The "under God"
addition, by identifying patriotism with religion, excludes agnostics, atheists
and all believers in some deity or deities other than the Christian God. Nor
does the "under God" addition meet Theodore Roosevelt's test of
promoting reverence and appealing to high emotions. Doubtless all the crooks in
the corporate community have recited the pledge without notably improving their
conduct.
As
for the Constitution, more than a half-century ago the Supreme Court, in West
Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, declared unconstitutional a law
requiring schoolchildren to salute the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
"If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation,"
Justice Robert H. Jackson memorably said for the court, "it is that no
official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics,
nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion."
The
court handed down its decision against compulsory pledges of allegiance and flag
salutes on Flag Day in 1943, when young Americans were fighting and dying for
that flag around the planet. The American people then, far from denouncing the
court, applauded the decision as a pretty good statement of what we were
fighting for. Are we backsliding today? Perhaps the next step for those who
identify patriotism with religion will be to try to amend the Constitution
itself by mentioning God.
Arthur Schlesinger Jr. is the author, most recently, of
"A Life in the 20th Century."
Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
##
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