Nguyen 1

Andrew Nguyen
Ms. Oberg
English 11
7 March 2016
The Removal of Under God in the Pledge
The Pledge of Allegiance was created in 1892 by Francis Bellamy. The Pledge of
Allegiance was written to be a representation of America. The original version of the Pledge of
Allegiance was written without the inclusion of under God. But, in 1954, the Knights of
Columbus added the words under God. Ever since the phrase under God has been added,
people have been pushing for the removal of the phrase. However, every time this issue is
brought up the court system finds some way to avoid the problem at hand. The phrase under
God should be removed because the Pledge infringes on the religious freedom of others and
violates the First Amendment of the Constitution.
The phrase under God offends different religions within the United States. The phrase
under God violates religious beliefs that arent Christian: The inclusion of the words under
God in the Pledge renders it a religious exercise and that government sponsorship of recitals of
the Pledge by children in public schools (One Nation Under God?). As shown here, you can see
that since the Pledge has the phrase under God makes it a religious exercise and the
government making it a law that the Pledge should be said by children in public schools is a clear
invasion of someones religious belief. Some children in public schools have families that do not
believe in God and with the inclusion of the under God violates this amendment and it should
be removed from the Pledge. Also, the court stated that the phrase is to show that there is a
Higher Power above: The court said the 1954 insertion of under God was made to recognize a

Nguyen 2
Supreme Being and advance religion at a time when the government was publicly inveighing
against atheistic communism a fact, the court said, the federal government did not dispute
(Lawmakers Blast Pledge Ruling). This means that the court does realize that the under God
is there to show that there is someone up there. However this violates the religious of many
different religions within the United States. The phrase under God doesnt represent all
religions, just one in particular. For example, Hindus believe in many different Gods, but the
phrase under God only speaks about one God only, which infringes on the religious freedom of
others.
The First Amendment states, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the
press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a
redress of grievances (Cornell). There was an incident in the 1930s in Pennsylvania that
violated this amendment: Officials didnt just expel students for not reciting the pledge, they
whipped and choked and beat them too. School officials would report these students to
government authorities, who then got court orders to separate the parents from their children,
sometimes for years (The Pledges Refuge for Scoundrels). This shows that there is a clear
violation of the first amendment. People were beaten because they didnt recite the pledge. Even
though the Supreme Court had stated people had the first amendment right, there still has been
many debates on whether or not people should recite the pledge or not due to the phrase under
God. If the phrase isnt removed than it causes trouble for the children and not just the parents:
In 1940, two children were expelled from public schools for refusing to say the Pledge. The
children claimed that their refusal was required as a matter of their religious belief as Jehovahs
Witnesses (One Nation Under God?. The inclusion of such a phrase if making it hard for the

Nguyen 3
children to learn. These children dont believe in God and if theyre forced to say something like
this it goes against what they believe in, which violates the first amendment completely.
Overall, the inclusion of the phrase under God should be removed from the Pledge of
Allegiance. The Pledge of Allegiance was originally written as a portrayal of America. The
phrase is in violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution because there have been many
cases where people have been beaten or kicked out of school due to the fact because they just do
not believe that there is a Higher Being above. This phrase also breaches the religious freedom of
others because people dont believe it offends someones religious whether they believe in God
or they believe in more than one God.

Nguyen 4

Works Cited
Cohen, Andrew. The Pledges Refuge for Scoundrels. latimes.com. Los Angeles Times, 2006.
Web. 9 February 2016.
First Amendment. law.cornell.edu. 1992. Web. 7 March 2016.
Lawmakers Blast Pledge Ruling. cnn.law..com. CNN, 27 June 2012. Web. 9 February 2016.
One Nation Under God?: A Constitutional Question. pewforum.org. The Pew Forum on
Religion & Public Life. 19 March 2004. Web. 7 March 2016.