New Research: Most Americans Want to Keep "Under God" in Pledge of Allegiance

“Since its addition in 1954, a number of organizations of varying atheistic backgrounds have spent enormous amounts of energy, time, and money to have the deistic phrase expelled from the Pledge.” CT

Discussion

http://www.wvsd.uscourts.gov/outreach/Pledge.htm

  • “Originally, the pledge was said with the right hand in the so-called “Bellamy Salute,” [see image below] with the right hand resting first outward from the chest, then the arm extending out from the body. Once Hitler came to power in Europe, some Americans were concerned that this position of the arm and hand resembled the Nazi or Fascist salute. In 1942 Congress also established the current practice of rendering the pledge with the right hand over the heart.”
  • “The official name of The Pledge of Allegiance was adopted in 1945. The last change in language came on Flag Day 1954, when Congress passed a law, which added the words “under God” after “one nation.””
  • “The Flag Code specifies that any future changes to the pledge would have to be with the consent of the President.”