One Nation Under God

Warrigal

Warrigal

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Sydney, Australia
This is interesting to me. The phrase "one nation under God" in the American oath of allegiance was originally just "one nation".

How did God enter the equation? Glad you asked. It involves "The New Deal"

The words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and the phrase "In God we trust" on the back of a dollar bill haven't been there as long as most Americans might think. Those references were inserted in the 1950s during the Eisenhower administration, the same decade that the National Prayer Breakfast was launched, according to writer Kevin Kruse. His new book is One Nation Under God.

In the original Pledge of Allegiance, Francis Bellamy made no mention of God, Kruse says. Bellamy was Christian socialist, a Baptist who believed in the separation of church and state.

"As this new religious revival is sweeping the country and taking on new political tones, the phrase 'one nation under God' seizes the national imagination," Kruse tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "It starts with a proposal by the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic lay organization, to add the phrase 'under God' to the Pledge of Allegiance. Their initial campaign doesn't go anywhere but once Eisenhower's own pastor endorses it ... it catches fire."

Kruse's book investigates how the idea of America as a Christian nation was promoted in the 1930s and '40s when industrialists and business lobbies, chafing against the government regulations of the New Deal, recruited and funded conservative clergy to preach faith, freedom and free enterprise. He says this conflation of Christianity and capitalism moved to center stage in the '50s under Eisenhower's watch.

"According to the conventional narrative, the Soviet Union discovered the bomb and the United States rediscovered God," Kruse says. "In order to push back against the atheistic communism of the Soviet Union, Americans re-embraced a religious identity. That plays a small role here, but ... there's actually a longer arc. That Cold War consensus actually helps to paper over a couple decades of internal political struggles in the United States. If you look at the architects of this language ... the state power that they're worried most about is not the Soviet regime in Moscow, but rather the New Deal and Fair Deal administrations in Washington, D.C."

The New Deal had passed a large number of measures that were regulating business in some ways for the first time, and it [had] empowered labor unions and given them a voice in the affairs of business. Corporate leaders resented both of these moves and so they launched a massive campaign of public relations designed to sell the values of free enterprise. The problem was that their naked appeals to the merits of capitalism were largely dismissed by the public.

The most famous of these organizations was called The American Liberty League and it was heavily financed by leaders at DuPont, General Motors and other corporations. The problem was that it seemed like very obvious corporate propaganda. As Jim Farley, the head of the Democratic Party at the time, said: "They ought to call it The American Cellophane League, because No. 1: It's a DuPont product, and No. 2: You can see right through it."

So when they realized that making this direct case for free enterprise was ineffective, they decided to find another way to do it. They decided to outsource the job. As they noted in their private correspondence, ministers were the most trusted men in America at the time, so who better to make the case to the American people than ministers?
They use these ministers to make the case that Christianity and capitalism were soul mates. This case had been made before, but in the context of the New Deal it takes on a sharp new political meaning. Essentially they argue that Christianity and capitalism are both systems in which individuals rise and fall according to their own merits. So in Christianity, if you're good you go to heaven, if you're bad you go to hell. In capitalism if you're good you make a profit and you succeed, if you're bad you fail.
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There's more here: http://www.npr.org/2015/03/30/39636...ome-under-god-until-the-50s-religious-revival

Can anyone confirm this idea?
 

Interesting article. I didn't know all the facts of when and who. When I lived in TN there were a lot of people trying to forcibly put a plaque of the ten commandments back in courtrooms, including some judges. I just kept my mouth shut as I was outnumbered by those who thought it was right.
 
Furriners should just accept that we are God's chosen country and people...
 

Back in the McCarthy era everyone was looking for Godless Commies around every corner.. So all the "God" stuff was added to the pledge and to our currency. Then in the 90's the Religious Right was brought in by Republicans to attract the social issue voters and NOW we are well on our way to a Theocracy.. Funny.. Many countries in the Middle East that we so love to hate are Theocracies.. But never mind that... we have the RIGHT God...
 
QuickSilver said:
Back in the McCarthy era everyone was looking for Godless Commies around every corner.. So all the "God" stuff was added to the pledge and to our currency. Then in the 90's the Religious Right was brought in by Republicans to attract the social issue voters and NOW we are well on our way to a Theocracy.. Funny.. Many countries in the Middle East that we so love to hate are Theocracies.. But never mind that... we have the RIGHT God...
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Very true!
 
There were far earlier usages of phrases referencing God on U.S. currency ...

It was found that the Act of Congress dated January 18, 1837, prescribed the mottoes and devices that should be placed upon the coins of the United States. This meant that the mint could make no changes without the enactment of additional legislation by the Congress. In December 1863, the Director of the Mint submitted designs for new one-cent coin, two-cent coin, and three-cent coin to Secretary Chase for approval. He proposed that upon the designs either OUR COUNTRY; OUR GOD or GOD, OUR TRUST should appear as a motto on the coins. In a letter to the Mint Director on December 9, 1863, Secretary Chase stated:
I approve your mottoes, only suggesting that on that with the Washington obverse the motto should begin with the word OUR, so as to read OUR GOD AND OUR COUNTRY. And on that with the shield, it should be changed so as to read: IN GOD WE TRUST.
​
The Congress passed the Act of April 22, 1864. This legislation changed the composition of the one-cent coin and authorized the minting of the two-cent coin. The Mint Director was directed to develop the designs for these coins for final approval of the Secretary. IN GOD WE TRUST first appeared on the 1864 two-cent coin.


Another Act of Congress passed on March 3, 1865. It allowed the Mint Director, with the Secretary's approval, to place the motto on all gold and silver coins that "shall admit the inscription thereon." Under the Act, the motto was placed on the gold double-eagle coin, the gold eagle coin, and the gold half-eagle coin. It was also placed on the silver dollar coin, the half-dollar coin and the quarter-dollar coin, and on the nickel three-cent coin beginning in 1866. Later, Congress passed the Coinage Act of February 12, 1873. It also said that the Secretary "may cause the motto IN GOD WE TRUST to be inscribed on such coins as shall admit of such motto." ...
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Source
 
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Saying "One Nation Under God" today does seem a little odd, being that so many want to take God out of everything. As for me, I think if there was more "God" in things in America, we'd be a much better society!

Now, I'll go to my corner and sit........LOL
 
ClassicRockr said:
Saying "One Nation Under God" today does seem a little odd, being that so many want to take God out of everything. As for me, I think if there was more "God" in things in America, we'd be a much better society!

Now, I'll go to my corner and sit........LOL
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Rockr, you're a very good sport for tolerating all us disrespectful heathens and if every one was like you the world would be a better place. But I can't let your statement "I think if there was more "God" in things" go by unchallenged. Remember 9/11? There was A LOT OF GOD in that whole horrible episode. I don't see where having a lot of God in things necessarily makes things better.
 
Josiah said:
Rockr, you're a very good sport for tolerating all us disrespectful heathens and if every one was like you the world would be a better place. But I can't let your statement "I think if there was more "God" in things" go by unchallenged. Remember 9/11? There was A LOT OF GOD in that whole horrible episode. I don't see where having a lot of God in things necessarily makes things better.
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Yes... But it wasn't the REAL God... or the Right God..
 

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