Religious Narrative in Pluralistic Society

Every now and then some crazy politician goes off on a tear about America being a Christian nation. That perspective is fed each time someone places a picture on social media about needing school prayer. It is fed each time someone criticizes someone “out there” who is offended by the phrase, “one nation under God.” My question is always “is that Jesus or Allah?” The question is enough to send some people into orbit and render others completely silent. But if we are going to claim to be one nation under God, we should at least be clear about what God we are talking about (even though they are all ultimately One).

America was not founded as a Christian nation. It is true that a small number of settlers in North America came to find religious freedom. They were a minority. The majority of settlers in America came to exploit the resources of the land and set up new trade routes. But the notion of a Christian nation persists. One reason is the pledge of allegiance: “one nation under God.” Those words are a relatively new addition to the pledge.

Most people don’t’ know the history of the Pledge of Allegiance. They think it was tattooed on Jesus’ butt when he came forth from Mary’s womb. The words, however, are of human and more humble origin. The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August 1892 by the socialist minister Francis Bellamy (did you catch the word “socialist?”).  It was published in The Youth’s Companion and it was Bellamy’s hope that it would be used by citizens in any country.

The original words were “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

In 1923 the words, “the Flag of the United States of America,” were added. In response to communist threats in the 1950’s President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words, “under God.” Our current 31 word Pledge of Allegiance has only been around since 1954. It has nothing to do with the Founding Father’s (and mothers) intentions, the framers of the Constitution, or blah, blah, blah.

What was in the mind of the Founding Fathers (and mothers) was the separation of church and state, a line that is becoming perilously thin in our increasingly autocratic political times. The earliest dreams of our nation held forth a freedom of religion (or a freedom from religion, as one may desire). The First Amendment to the Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

In short this means you can be a Baptist, a Jew, a Buddhist, a member of the church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (yeah, it’s a thing), an agnostic, an atheist or a tree hugger. So when the political nut jobs of the day get the microphone and talk about “one nation under God” they are standing on shaky historical ground. Of course most of the political nut jobs have probably not read the constitution so they are blowing their ignorance out their ears.

It is past time for us to reclaim the social narrative around religious expression in a pluralistic society.  The separation of church and state is firmly baked into the Constitution and held to as a cornerstone of a functioning democracy.  This means that our social narrative needs to make room for religious practices other than our own. I would go so far as to remove “under God” from the pledge of allegiance, though that would rankle a lot of people. Rankle away. I’m okay with it.

America is a secular nation. Some of the values that have been esteemed historically are loosely based on the Christian faith. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that this is a secular nation, and I daresay the esteemed Christian values have long since been eclipsed by free market capitalism, greed and corporate power run amok.

Hiding behind some goofy notion of America as a Christian nation is a false narrative for our country. It feeds Christian nationalism, skews Christian faith and encourages the lines between church and state to be further blurred. Freedom of religion (or from religion) means any religion. This is the needed social narrative for our country.