by Ralph Johnson

Created on: April 13, 2011   Last Updated: April 18, 2011

“One Nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Generation after generation of good, law-abiding, hard-working Americans, whose integrity and honesty were by and large above reproach, pledged allegiance to the flag of the United States for their entire lives, without once uttering the word “God.” The phrase “under God” was introduced during the Cold War, as a knee-jerk response to fear of the Soviet Union's rise. All one has to do is watch current congressional debates, in all their juvenile splendor, to imagine the fifties-era stampede to associate with the action amending the Pledge (and to emblazon the word “God” on all of our currency).

The entrenched socioeconomic elite in the US saw Communism in general, and the Soviet Union in particular, as a direct threat to its own status-quo supremacy over our country. For this reason the very word “Communism” was intentionally and systematically tarred with the taint of “evil,” and this mantra so drummed into the brains of the US population that the two words became synonymous in practical terms. Since the Soviet Union rejected religion as a power structure, and because defending Capitalism wasn't a strong enough argument (too many of the poor in the US didn't see sharing the wealth as such a bad idea), the elites needed something more powerful, more fundamental, something that would resonate with all socioeconomic strata. So they invoked “God.” It was cynical, and calculated, and it worked—we could all pat ourselves on the back and declare ourselves superior, because we weren't “godless communists.”

Why print the words on our money? Simple. Where else would Americans be constantly, repeatedly, and inescapably exposed to religious propaganda, every day of their lives? It was certainly cheaper than a Madison Avenue ad campaign, and it boasted a permanence and entrenchment no mere media blitz could match. It was a mistake, just as certainly as was the removal of “God” from Soviet life. It tipped the balance of power in a dangerous direction, the results of which we currently suffer daily, on an immense scale. Just as it was a restriction of freedom (as outlined in the First Amendment) to outlaw religious practice in Soviet Russia, it is also (as spelled out in the same sentence) a restriction of freedom to force the recognition of a god on citizens of the United States.  In addition,

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