One Nation under God

In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower signed an amendment adding the two words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.  In so doing, he said, "We are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage."  Today, some 40 years later, numerous efforts have been made to get the phrase, “under God” removed from the Pledge. 

It is very important for us to retain the truth that the United States is "one nation under God."  I have met pastors and church leaders within my denomination who have demonstrated a rather cavalier attitude toward our national acknowledgment of God, as if it doesn’t make a great deal of difference.  From their perspective, Christians should not be concerned by the effort of a small group of atheists to remove the acknowledgment of God from the public square.  As far as I am concerned, this is utter, irresponsible foolishness.  We should be very concerned.  Consider…

The Christian Gospel is not the issue with anti-God secularists.  The fly in their ointment is the civil acknowledgment of God, which they erroneously perceive as a “Christian thing.”  As citizens of this country secularists are constantly reminded that they are accountable to God.  Believing in the God of law and morality cramps the style of hedonists who want to do their own thing; frustrates the humanists who arrogantly think that they are the measure of all things; challenges the evolutionists who reject the existence of any mind behind the universe; irritates the self-esteem advocates who view God as a guilt-monger; exasperates the positivists who chafe at the notion that morality is not merely their good idea; angers the atheists who vow to rid the public square of any acknowledgment of God; and infuriates the abortionists who want to create a “guilt free zone” where babies are being slaughtered.

President Bush has gone to battle against those who want to remove “under God” from the Pledge.  As the President of these United States, sworn to promote the common good, he realizes, with our founding fathers, that a government offering freedom to the citizenry must be established upon God if order and morality are to be maintained.  Former Attorney General John Ashcroft has said, “If America is to be great in the future, it will be if we understand that our source is not civic and temporal, but our source is godly and eternal - endowed by the Creator with rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

From God, we derive human rights: the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and the freedom of religion.  We have the freedom to gather in our churches on Sunday morning and preach the exclusive claims of our Lord Jesus Christ – Jesus is the only way to the Father.  If this freedom we enjoy is a gift from our government, we should thank our government.  But according to the Declaration of Independence, all our freedoms, including the freedom of religion, come from God.  Therefore, we thank God for religious freedom.  If you take God out of the civil realm, religious freedom is a gift from our government and what the government gives, the government can take away.

The stated belief in God in the civil realm is a check against tyranny.  Government leaders acknowledge their position under a Supreme Being.  While the establishment clause does not allow the particular religious beliefs of the majority to be established among us, the belief in God hinders the majority from eliminating the rights given by God.  Historically, the removal of God from the civil realm creates an alternative personality cult, such as Hitler, Marx, or Mau  

From our belief in God, we derive natural law.  Morality, good and evil, are not the good idea of the majority but find their basis in God.  If the consciousness of God is removed from the public mentality, objective moral standards no longer exist.  We end up with moral relativism - right and wrong behavior individually determined.  Atheist Jean Paul Sartre said, “If God is dead, everything is permitted.” 

Thomas Jefferson borrowed the understanding of “natural law” reflected in the Declaration of Independence from the British empiricist philosopher John Locke.  In assessing the contribution of Locke to our Democratic form of government, Professor J. Budziszewski points out:  “For Locke, however, no God, means no rights, because our dignity is founded solely on our being made by his hand.  But if you accept God, you have to accept the whole package: not only rights, but law too.” (Written on the Heart, [Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1997]), p. 105.)

According to Dr. Alvin Schmidt, the removal of the Ten Commandments from schools and courts amounts to the removal of the natural/moral law.  He says, “That law is not the sole possession of Jews and Christians…The Founders believed in the natural law, which was often expressed in their phrase ‘the natural rights of man.’” (The Menace of Multiculturalism, [Westport: Praeger, 1997], p. 144)

Since morality is grounded in the essential character of God, it is not possible to have objective moral standards without the belief in God.  In his 1978 Harvard Commencement address, Alexander Solzhenitsyn said, "We have lost the concept of a Supreme Complete Entity which used to restrain our passions and our irresponsibility. We have placed too much hope in political and social reforms, only to find out that we were being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life."  As poet H.L. Hix put it, “Virtue is a gift of the gods.  Unfortunately, there are no gods.”  (David Wells, Losing our Virtue, [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998], p. 53)

            But perhaps even of greater importance, a national acknowledgment of God provides Christians with a “point of contact” for the preaching of the Gospel.  Because all are responsible before God and because all have sinned and have fallen short of His glory, the message of God’s grace and mercy in Christ Jesus is very relevant.

            Therefore, it is very important that we are able year after year to sing, “God bless America.”