Criticism of the Pledge of Allegiance facts for kids

The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States has been criticized on several grounds. Its use in government funded schools has been the most controversial, as critics contend that a government-sanctioned endorsement of religion violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Arguments against the pledge include that the pledge itself is incompatible with democracy and freedom, that it is a form of nationalistic indoctrination, that pledges of allegiance are features of totalitarian states such as Nazi Germany, and that the pledge was written to honor Christopher Columbus and to sell flags.

Religious issues

Even before the addition of the phrase "under God" in 1954, legal challenges were frequently founded on the basis of freedom of religion. Central to early challenges were Jehovah's Witnesses, a group whose beliefs preclude swearing loyalty to any power lesser than God. In the 1940 Supreme Court case Minersville School District vs. Gobitis, an 8–1 majority in the Court held that a school district's interest in promoting national unity permitted it to require Witness students to recite the Pledge along with their class mates. Gobitis was an unpopular decision in the press, and it led to a rash of mob violence and intimidation against Jehovah's Witnesses.

Three years later in West Virginia State Board of Education vs. Barnette, the Court reversed itself, voting 6–3 to forbid a school from requiring the Pledge. As a result, since 1943 public schools have been disallowed from punishing students for not reciting the Pledge. Nonetheless, it remains taught to and expected of school children in many schools, as the Court leaves many details in such matters up to respective state governments. More specific objections have been raised since the addition of the phrase "under God" to the Pledge. The year of its addition, 1954, was also near the beginning of the Cold War anti-communist movement in the United States.

Matter of Lewis v. Allen

In response to the June 14, 1954 Congressional change of the wording of the Pledge (found in U.S. Code, tit. 36 § 172) to include "under God", a series of lawsuits were filed in the New York State courts by Joseph L. Lewis challenging the constitutionality of the addition of the new phrase. Lewis was a publisher, writer, and co-founder of Freethinkers of America. As the cases involved Joseph Lewis desiring the Court to order the Commissioner of Education of The State of New York, James E. Allen, Jr. to remove the new words from the Pledge, these cases are referred to as the Matter of Lewis v. Allen.

1957 case

The first case brought by Lewis found its way to the New York State Supreme Court in 1957. Joseph Lewis maintained that the Commissioner of Education of the State of New York had a duty, which he had failed to perform, to revoke the regulation requiring the recitation of the Pledge with the new phrase, and reinstate the old wording. Lewis did not cite any state regulations concerning the Commissioner, but held the Commissioner was bound to act by the U.S. First Amendment (which was applied to the State governments through the Fourteenth Amendment) and by article I and XI of the New York State Constitution.

The court held that it was not within the Commissioner's domain to determine the constitutionality of acts performed by the State or Federal Legislatures. The Court then turned to Lewis' contention that the New York law that ordered the recitation of the Pledge had been rendered unconstitutional by the new wording, "Petitioners claim that freethinkers, nonbelievers, atheists and agnostics cannot be compelled to recite the present pledge of allegiance because it includes the words 'under God', and such compulsion violates the aforesaid constitutional provisions." Referencing the 1943 case West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, which resulted in fines and threats of imprisonment against those refusing to say the pledge being ruled unconstitutional, the Court held that "The regulation under attack here has no compulsory aspect. No penalties attach to a failure or refusal to recite the pledge.The pledge is made voluntarily and no penalties are imposed for noncompliance."

Having pointed out that neither threats nor actual imprisonment or deprivation of property had made for noncompliance, the Court moved onto the other half of the definition of "establishment" set out in Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson's concurring opinion in McCollum v. Board of Education. New York State Justice Isadore Bookstein wrote "If I properly apprehend the intent, design and purposes of the First Amendment, it was conceived to prevent and prohibit the establishment of a State Religion; it was not intended to prevent or prohibit the growth and development of a Religious State."

Operating on the interpretation of the First Amendment that holds that the state is prohibited from establishing a single religion or denomination as the official religion, but is free to support all religions in general (as long as it shows none of them preference above the others), Justice Bookstein listed several examples felt to support that interpretation. These included Supreme Court rulings such as the 1892 Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States which stated "this is a religious nation", and the 1952 ruling Zorach v. Clauson which stated "We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being." Bookstein also cited wording in the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, and the preamble of the New York Constitution which expressed gratitude "to Almighty God for our Freedom". In addition the Justice pointed out that American coins had "In God we trust" inscribed on them (a practice that had been implemented sporadically since 1864), and pointed to the Presidential oath of "So help me, God" (he made no mention that the Constitution gives the president-elect the option to affirm without invoking a deity).

Bookstein wrote "If petitioners' contention be sound, it may be wondered whether the public school curriculum might properly include the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address. Could "America" ("Protect us by thy might, Great God, our King!") be sung in a public school without offending the First Amendment? And might not the presidential oath of office have questionable constitutional status?" The Justice held with House Report No. 1693 that the Zorach v. Clauson case "clearly indicated that the references to the Almighty which run through our laws, our public rituals, and our ceremonies in no way flout the provisions of the First Amendment. ... [for] if this recognition of the Almighty was not so, then even a fastidious atheist or agnostic could object to the way in which the Court itself opens each of its sessions, namely, 'God save the United States and the Honorable Court'."

Bookstein held that "the child of a nonbeliever may simply omit the words, 'under God', in reciting the pledge. His 'non-conformity', if such it be, will not, in the circumstances of this case, set him apart from his fellow students or bring 'pressure' to bear in any real sense." Bookstein again cited Zorach v. Clauson holding that to side with Lewis' claims against the government "'would be preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do not'. The First Amendment does not require this." Justice Bookstein's words in this ruling were later quoted by the state of New York in one of its briefs, when defending its position in the Engel v. Vitale case before the United States Supreme Court.

1960 case

Lewis brought a similar argument in 1960 holding that the Pledge with the new words was unconstitutional "as it involves 'the use of the public schools—both physically and pedagogically—for the dissemination of purely religious dogma' and, second, as it imposes 'an intolerable degree of compulsion upon the young children of non-believers ... to listen to, learn and repeat thousands of time a religious concept which they repudiate and abhor'".

The Court cited New York's recent decision in the case Engles v. Vitale where the state had allowed officials of a school district to order its teachers to teach and lead students in a nondenominational prayer crafted by the government to remain in place as long as more safeguards were put into place to insure that students and parents were informed that children could remove themselves from the classroom if they did not wish to participate or be exposed to the prayer crafted by the New York board of Regents (this decision was later reversed by the United States Supreme court in 1963). The New York Court held that due to the 1943 case West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette there was general knowledge that there could be no compulsion on students to participate or expose themselves to the Pledge.

The Court dismissed Lewis' claims that the pledge was an establishment of religion citing Zorach v. Clauson, "There cannot be the slightest doubt that the First Amendment reflect the philosophy that Church and State should be separated. ... The First Amendment, however, does not say that in every and all respects there shall be a separation of Church and State. Rather, it studiously defines the manner, the specific ways, in which there shall be no concert or union or dependency one on the other. That is the common sense of the matter. Otherwise the state and religion would be aliens to each other—hostile, suspicious, and even unfriendly. ... Prayers in our legislative halls; the appeals to the Almighty that run through our laws, our public rituals, our ceremonies would be flouting the First Amendment."

The court also dismissed Lewis' argument that the Pledge violated New York's Constitution that "'forbids the use of public money or other property in aid of any denominational school or any school' in which any denominational tenet or doctrine is taught". Stating simply, "From our determination that the claim of unconstitutionality under the First Amendment cannot be sustained, it follows that the regulation does not contravene the like provisions of the State Constitution."

Lewis appealed this decision to the New York Court of Appeals in 1964, they affirmed the previous decision which ruled against his position.

2005 District ruling

In early 2005, Dr. Michael Newdow brought a new lawsuit on behalf of himself and others. On September 14, 2005, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled that it violated the Establishment Clause for public schools to lead their students in the Pledge of Allegiance to comply with California's requiring the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. The judge said he was bound by 2002 precedent of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision even though it had been vacated by the Supreme Court. Judge Karlton held that the words "one nation under God" violate the right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God".

On November 30, 2005, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, an organization claiming to defend religious rights for people of all faiths, appealed the case to the Ninth Circuit and filed a brief that declared, "[Intervenors] object to the ruling that the pledge violates any part of the Establishment Clause." Derek Gaubatz, director of Litigation for the Becket Fund, said his group would appeal the decision "if necessary to the Supreme Court to get that ruling reversed to secure the constitutionality of the pledge once and for all".

"Under God" ruling

The words "under God" were added to the Pledge on June 14, 1954 when then U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill into law. At the time, Eisenhower stated that "From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our Nation and our people to the Almighty."

The matter of the Pledge's constitutionality simmered for decades below the public eye. In 1992, the Chicago-based Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals decided the first challenge to the constitutionality of the words "under God", ruling in Sherman v. Community Consolidated School District 21 that the use of the words "under God" in the Pledge did not violate the Establishment Clause. On June 26, 2002, in a case (Newdow v. United States Congress) brought by an atheist father objecting to the Pledge being taught in his daughter's school, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled the addition of "under God" an unconstitutional endorsement of monotheism.

Shortly after the ruling's release, Judge Alfred T. Goodwin, author of the opinion in the 2–1 ruling, signed an order staying its enforcement until the full Ninth Circuit court could decide whether to hear an appeal.

The day after the ruling, the Senate voted in favor of the Pledge as it stood. The House followed suit, accepting a similar resolution. The Senate vote was 99–0 (Senator Jesse Helms could not attend, but had been expected to vote "yes"); the House 416–3 with 11 abstaining. President George W. Bush and many other politicians spoke out in favor of the existing Pledge.

The stay on the ruling was lifted on February 28, 2003 when the full Ninth Circuit court of appeals decided not to take the case, letting the ruling stand. A second stay was granted, however, to give the school district time to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. If it had held, the court's ruling would have affected more than 9.6 million students in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Guam.

In the months following the court's decision, Attorneys General from all 50 states filed papers asking the Supreme Court of the United States to review the decision, 49 of whom joined a legal brief sponsored by Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson and Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden. California filed a separate brief, also urging the Supreme Court to hear the case.

On January 12, 2004, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal on March 24 of the same year. Justice Antonin Scalia recused himself from the case after he had criticized the Ninth Circuit judgment in the Newdow case. On June 14, 2004, the Supreme Court rejected Newdow's claim by an 8–0 vote, stating that as a non-custodial parent, he did not have standing to act as his daughter's legal representative.

In August 2005, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held 3–0 in Myers v. Loudoun County Public Schools that teacher-led recitations of the Pledge did not violate the Establishment Clause. The Plaintiff in that case, Edward Myers, decided not to appeal the case to the Supreme Court.

General patterns in issues of church and state

The points-of-view, compromises, and personal interests in this matter are often viewed as examples of a wider debate over the role of religion in U.S. government.

Several dissenting Supreme Court Justices concluded that U.S. judges exceed their authority in decisions on issues of religion. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia wrote, and Chief Justice William Rehnquist agreed, that "the Court's position is the repressive one" when the Supreme Court approved of the lower courts declaring a law unconstitutional because it mandated that teaching of "evolution science" be balanced by teaching of "creation science." (Edwards v. Aguillard,). Justice Scalia has also said that courts have gone too far to keep religion out of public schools and other forums, and that the Pledge of Allegiance question would be better decided by lawmakers than judges. The Supreme Court has banned some expressions of "God" from public schools. For example, in 1962 the Supreme Court banned the teacher-led recitation of the invocation, "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our Country." This objectionable "Almighty God" recitation was voluntary, of the same nature as the Pledge of Allegiance.

In the same 1962 case, the Court admitted that the "God save this honorable court" invocation uttered at the beginning of each Court session was a "prayer." However, the Court also ruled that "A religion is not established in the usual sense merely by letting those who choose to do so say the prayer that the public school teacher leads." Rather, the Court found fault with the teacher-led prayer because the State of New York had financed a religious exercise in requiring the teacher-led recitation of the prayer. Nevertheless, neither the parents nor the Court made the same assertion regarding the Pledge of Allegiance.

Definition of "religious exercise"

The dissenting justice in the 2002 "Under God" ruling stated that the ruling conflicted with the Supreme Court's explicit stance that the phrase "under God" is merely a ceremonial reference to history and not an affirmation of religious faith. Opponents contend that this contradicts the 1954 House Report of the legislators who inserted the "under God" phrase into the Pledge, which stated that the words "under God" served to "acknowledge the dependence of our people and our Government upon the moral directions of the Creator." 154 U.S.C.A.A.N 2339, 2340.

The plaintiff, Michael Newdow, an atheist, took issue with the phrase "In God We Trust" on the coins of American currency, believing that the phrase was a state-sponsored statement of religious faith—illegal under the separation of church and state. He argued that he had a right to raise his daughter "without God being imposed into her life by her school teachers."

Some of the judges in the 2002 ruling agreed that Newdow had a right to direct the religious education of his daughter. Newdow explained his view of 'freedom of religious exercise' by asking whether Christians would be glad if the atheists were in the majority and if the atheists inserted into the pledge of allegiance the phrase "one nation under NO God." In an interview with Connie Chung, Newdow stated, "The Constitution says the congress will make no laws respecting an establishment of religion which means that the Supreme Court says, and as you have said, nobody should be made to feel like an outsider. And I would only ask everyone of those people to ask themselves, if they had to say every morning when they pledged allegiance to the flag, that we were one nation under Sun Myung Moon, or one nation under David Koresh, or one nation under Jesus, or one nation under Mohammad, how would they feel?" Thus Newdow claimed that the reference to God is meaningful, and hence the court should recognize, and correct, the resulting religious bias.

Promoting socialism

Francis Bellamy, the author of the Pledge, was a former Baptist minister who preached that Jesus was a socialist. He was allied ideologically with his cousin, Edward Bellamy, one of the most renowned socialists of the late 19th century. Strongly opposed to capitalism, Francis advocated income taxation, central banking, nationalized education, nationalization of industry, and other tenets of socialism. A primary objective of his was to replace the existing federalist view of the country (where states are sovereign) in the public's mind with a nationalist one that would open the way to creating a centralized government.

When provided the opportunity to write a pledge to the American flag in a campaign to sell flags to public schools, Bellamy turned to the words and principles of socialism. Put simply, if American youth could to be taught "loyalty to the State", it would pave the way for the socialist utopia that was described in his famous socialist cousin Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward. The central idea of "one nation" in the pledge was especially important for achieving his vision of the kind of consolidated, monopoly government that he believed necessary for socialism to be adopted. Additionally, he considered adding the socialist bywords, "liberty, fraternity and equality", but knew that state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality for women and African Americans.

As Bellamy believed youth should be trained in devotion to the State, the public schools as a government institution were the perfect setting for planting the requisite fervent loyalty and patriotism. To promote the Pledge nationwide, a "National Public School Celebration" was held on Columbus Day in 1892. It was the first government sponsored propaganda event on behalf of the Pledge of Allegiance. It was a massive campaign that involved government schools and politicians throughout the country. Not only was the Pledge recited en masse for the first time at the behest of government, but public schools were promoted while private schools, especially parochial ones, were criticized.

Compelled speech and other issues

Some people generally oppose the pledge because they feel that the mandatory recital of what amounts to an oath, particularly by children, led by government employees in public schools, is a form of compulsory speech, amounting to indoctrination, that is the antithesis of the liberty the flag itself represents. Indeed, in Barnette, Justices Black and Douglas wrote in a concurring opinion, "Words uttered under coercion are proof of loyalty to nothing but self-interest. Love of country must spring from willing hearts and free minds, inspired by a fair administration of wise laws enacted by the people's elected representatives within the bounds of express constitutional prohibitions." Likewise, the majority opinion by Justice Robert Jackson, included one of the great statements in American constitutional law and history, stated: "If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein."

Specific criticisms of the pledge include:

• The assertion that it amounts to idolatry
• That the noble ideal of liberty and justice for all it espouses, ignores and overlooks historical and current issues such as the prison population, American internment camps during WWII, and wrongful convictions and executions
• Perceived encroachments on First and Fourth Amendment freedoms
• That it encourages blind patriotism at the expense of actual civic engagement and action

2006 District ruling

• In the 2006 Florida case Frazier v. Alexandre, No. 05-81142 (S.D. Fla. May 31, 2006), "A federal district court in Florida ruled that a 1942 state law requiring students to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, even though the law allows students to opt out, because they can only do so with written parental permission and are still required to stand during the recitation. Cameron Frazier, a student at Boynton Beach High School, was removed from a class after he refused to follow his teacher's instructions to recite the Pledge or stand during recitation."