We Are Indeed One Nation Under God

Today is big here in Pagosa Springs, Colorado where Sylvia and I are spending our summer. On Friday we ate lunch with a bunch of senior citizens at the Archuleta County Grey Wolves Center. Before lunch we stood to face the flag and pledge our allegiance. Today we'll watch a parade through downtown and later fireworks near the high school's playing field. We'll all feel patriotic and on our lips will be a prayer for God to bless America.


You possibly know that the Pledge of Allegiance was written back in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister. He read it at the Boston public schools' celebration of Columbus Day. His original pledge read,

'I pledge allegiance to my Flag and (to) the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.'

In 1954, as our nation struggled with atheistic communism and the 'cold' war, Congress added the words "under God" in a bill that was signed into law. In 2002  Michael Newdow,  a physician with a law degree, made an attempt to eliminate the phrase. It remains in the official pledge, however, due to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling overturning a decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. On March 12, 2010, in a 2-1 ruling, the same 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said no federal law requires students to recite the pledge or the religious reference in it.Thus the phrase does not violate a citizen's right to be free of a state-mandated religion.


Anyone is thus free to include the words 'under God' in his/her pledge. The law of our land does not demand it, however. I sense that most of us here in Pagosa Springs will speak the words regardless of the recent controversy. 

As a Christian, I ask, what the phrase "one nation under God" means to me. I turn to one of several Bible verses. The Apostle Paul writes,

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. (Romans 13:1-7 - ESV)

 The apostle thus reminds us that we have this great land and its government because God put it in place for our well being. His hand has guided and directed us to where we are this day. The government of this nation derives its authority from our Creator and God. As Paul says, every ruler is "God's servant for your good" and "minister of God." So my conscience is bound to obey my rulers and the laws they pass unless they clearly disobey the commands of God. In that event, I must obey God rather than man (Acts 5:17-42). Thus I believe in the phrase "one nation under God" and will pray for my nation. 


If you are a believer in God's mercy in Jesus Christ, I humbly invite you to join me on this and any other day to speak the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and include the phrase, "one nation under God."