QUESTION 1.

What would have been the opinions of Reverend Francis Bellamy, the author of the Pledge, and James Madison, "Father of the U.S. Constitution,'" about the June 26, 2002 9th US Circuit Court ruling (Michael Newdow v. U.S. Congress) that the words, "under God," added to the Pledge in 1954 and recited in most public schools, are in violation of the First Amendment? What organizations lead the effort to place "under God" in the Pledge?

ANSWER 1.

Reverend Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931) probably would be happy with this decision. When Bellamy wrote the Pledge in August, 1892, he never considered placing the word, "under God," in his original version of the Pledge of Allegiance. In 1954 David Bellamy, his son, sent a message to Congress in 1954 politely stating that his father would not like this addition by Congress.. His granddaughter and great-granddaughter have made similar statements..

Bellamy had used the words "Divine Providence" and "Divine care" in writing the July 1892 Columbus Day proclamation for President Benjamin Harrison. When he was writing his Pledge in August, 1892, he also was aware of the Balch flag salute for the New York City public schools and that this Pledge included the words, "to God and our Country."

Bellamy wrote the draft of the Columbus Day Proclamation for President Benjamin Harrison in July, 1892. He used the words, "Divine Providence" and "Divine care" in this statement: "Let the National Flag float over every school house in the country, and the exercises be such as shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duties of American citizenship. In the churches and in the other places of assembly of the people, let there be expressions of gratitude to Divine Providence for the devout faith of the Discoverer, and the Divine care and guidance which has directed our history and so abundantly blessed our people."

When Bellamy wrote his Pledge in August, 1892, he was well aware of the Balch Pledge. In 1892 George T. Balch was the most influential person in the development of a patriotic flag ritual for the classroom. He was a New York City auditor and had developed a patriotic verbal flag salute and ritual, the first verbal flag salute used in American public schools. The students in his New York Public Schools gave his "American Patriotic Salute" as follows: students touched first their foreheads, then their hearts, reciting, "We give our Heads - and our Hearts -to God and our Country." Then with a right arm outstretched and palms down in the direction of the flag, they competed the salute" One Country! One Language! One Flag!"

Why did Bellamy not include the word, "God," in his new flag salute when he had used this concept in writing the presidential proclamation and was familiar with the Balch salute? Bellamy was a northern Baptist and a Freemason; both groups promoted the separation of church and state and opposed tax supported parochial schools. The Freemasons in Europe and occasionally in the USA had battled the Roman Catholic Church for over a century over these issues. The Papacy was a religious state in Italy from about 800 to 1870 AD. The present Vatican City State was part of this government.

Francis Bellamy was probably a Christian deist. He did not believe in the virgin birth, the resurrection, or the ascension of Jesus. He stopped attending church during his retirement in Florida. His father, Reverend David Bellamy, was more orthodox. In 1847 David Bellamy founded the Calvary Baptist Church now located at 123 West 57th Street in New York City. Next door is its New York Bible School.

The northern Baptists believe in freedom of religion, freedom for religion and freedom from religions. They believe that the separation of church and state is healthy both for the church and the state. They believe in the priesthood of all believers and the freedom of every person to relate directly to God without the imposition of any creed by the government.

JAMES MADISON, GEORGE WASHINGTON AND "GOD"

James Madison (1751 - 1836), the "Father of the US Constitution" and the first ten amendments, was on the style committee that wrote the final draft of the Constitution There was no mention of "God" in the wording of the Constitution. The Constitutional Convention of 1787, where Madison was the intellectual leader, did not have formal prayers or religious sermons at its sessions. Yet. Madison was well trained in Christian theology. As a young man, he had trained for the Presbyterian ministry. Why did Madison oppose any reference to the official use of "God" in the Constitution and its Bill of Rights?

Madison believed strongly in the principle of separation of church and state. Madison had a long history of fighting for separation of church and state. He opposed the laws in colonial Virginia which authorized governmental officials to arrest Baptist ministers for the "crime of heresy." In the 1780's in the Virginia House of Delegates, he led the opposition to Patrick Henry and others seeking to reestablish the Episcopal church as the official state church in Virginia. (See "Christianity and the Constitution" by John Eidsmore.)

In the colonial period and during the American Revolution many Episcopalian ministers took an oath of allegiance to the King of England, the official head of the Episcopalian Church at the time.

Patrick Henry sought a compromise with Madison by which the Virginia taxpayers would support the "Christian church, denomination or communion of Christians." Madison defeated it. Henry then tried to pass a law that Virginia would support "teachers of the Christian religion" - again defeated by Madison. In 1787 Madison helped design a US Constitution which would support religious and secular diversity in a secular constitutional federated representative democratic republic.

Madison was probably a Christian deist. Deist subordinated the Bible and revelations to reason and the scientific method in discovering the nature of God. Many deist also were critical of many priest and protestant ministers who the deist thought often had a vested interests in maintaining mystery, ignorance, and superstition.

George Washington (1732 - 1799), the "father of his country" apparently concurred with Madison's reasoning. He was President of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 (May 25 - Sept 17, 1787) and chaired its meetings. He apparently never protested the lack of the word, "God" in the US Constitution or the lack of public prayers at its sessions. He referred rarely to "God" or "Jesus" in his writings but preferred the word, "Providence."

Yet, Washington was a deist who was very religious. Washington's Farewell Addressee to the people of the United States said in 1796. "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports... Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure. reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."

Alexander Hamilton, who was Washington Secretary of the US Treasury and his military aid during the American Revolution, wrote much of this speech. Hamilton was also a Christian deist.

Washington believed strongly in the separation of church and state. In an address to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, he said: "It is now no more that tolerance is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgenced of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens. . ."

Both Washington and Madison apparently had concurred with the original national motto, "E Pluribus Unum," selected by Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams. Adams, Jefferson and Franklin were deists. "E Pluribus Unum," was a quote from Saint Augustine's "Confessions," Book Four.

In 1956 Congress replaced this national motto with "In God We Trust." This motto was suggested by a Protestant minister during the Civil War. It was placed first on a two cent coin, in about 1865. Today both mottos are on our coins, but only "In God We Trust" is on our paper currency.

In the late 1950's and 1960's several Congressmen proposed an amendment to the Constitution which stated that the USA was a "Christian nation." This amendment apparently failed to pass the House and Senate and was never added to the Constitution. If it had passed, the USA might have become a "Christian Republic of the USA," not unlike the "Islamic Republic of Iran.".

LEADERS IN THE MOVEMENT TO ADD "UNDER GOD" TO THE PLEDGE,

In an 1955 Affidavit before a Notary Public of Cook County, Illinois, Louis A. Bowman (1872 - 1959) officially claimed to be the first person to initiate the practice of reciting "under God" in the Pledge. He was a member of the Board of Governors of the Illinois Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and served as its Chaplin. He lived in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago.

On Lincoln's Birthday, February 12, 1948, at a meeting of the Illinois Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, he lead them in repeating the Pledge with the added two words, "under God," after "one nation." The National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution and its Chicago Chapter gave him an Award of Merit as the originator of this idea.

Bowman explained to the Society that in adding the words, "under God," they were following the precedent established by Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address. At the end of this Address, Lincoln said, "this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that, government of the. people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." (Lincoln inserted the words, "under God," extemporaneously, for they do not appear in his written draft.)

Bowman also repeated this revised Pledge at several other meeting of the Society. At one 1952 meeting of his SAR, a member, John F. McKillip, was inspired to write to his former Employer and Editor-in-Chief of the Hearst Papers, William R. Hearst Jr., about this new change. The Hearst Newspapers began a campaign that eventually helped result in the "under God" legislation, which was adopted by the US House and Senate in 1954 and signed by President Eisenhower on Flag Day, 1954.

Bowman repeated his revised Pledge on other occasions - as a guest speaker at a Chicago post of the American Legion in 1952 and at a YMCA dedication in 1953. Meanwhile, in April 1951, the Knights of Columbus began a campaign for the Pledge to be amended by Congress to include the words, "under God." The Hearst Newspapers and the American Legion joined this campaign.

In this successful campaign, the Knights of Columbus worked closely with Representative Louis Rabout, a democratic congressman from the Detroit area. He was a long time member of the House Appropriation Committee. He was a devout Roman Catholic. One of his sons became a Jesuit priest and two of his daughters became catholic nuns.

The Knights of Columbus were founded in 1882 by Father Michael McGivney in New Haven, Connecticut. (he probably will be canonized as a Roman Catholic saint in the next ten or twenty years.) Father McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus as a fraternal order for Roman Catholic men. It provided family insurance and meeting halls around the nation for its members.

In 1900 the Fourth degree of the Knights of Columbus were formed. This "higher order" was founded to do good works, help the Roman Catholic Church, and to promote American patriotism. The Knights has worked closely with the Holly See in the Vatican over the last century.

In the 1950's the Fourth Degree believed that a patriotic American should be a person of religious faith and one who opposed communism, socialism, secularism, deism, agnosticism and atheism. In the 1950's the Knights opposed communism in eastern Europe, Latin America, and Vietnam. It supported Senator Joseph McCarthy is his early campaign against communist subversion in the United States.

In April 1951 its Board of Directors adopted a resolution mandating that "under God" be added in the recitation of the Pledge by each of the 750 Fourth Degree assemblies. In 1952 its Supreme Council passed a resolution urging Congress to add the words, "under God," to the Pledge.

Many other groups joined in the campaign. One was the Washington Pilgrimage group (now known as the Religious Heritage of America group), a patriotic-religious group founded in 1951, began promoting this addition. In 1952 the Reverend Dr. George M. Docherty, pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, preached in favor of adding "under God" to the Pledge. His point was that a Soviet atheist could easily recite the Pledge without compunction by substituting the "Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics" for the 'United States".

In 1953 Rep Louis Rabaut from Michigan received a letter from H. Joseph Mahoney, Brooklyn, NY, suggesting this addition. Rabaut's 1953 House bill eventually was passed. Senator Homer Ferguson of Michigan filed a Senate bill that was passed by Congress. President Eisenhower signed the bill on Flag Day, June 14, 1954. (President Eisenhower was baptized into the Presbyterian church in Washington in 1953.)

In 1955 Rabout arranged for Congress to publish and distribute over 100,000 copies of a musical version of the Pledge. The music and lyrics were written by Irving Caesar, a union leader and a friend of George Gershwin. Gershwin and Caesar wrote the music and lyrics for "Suwannee," made famous by Al Jolson.

THE 1950'S COLD WAR POLITICS AND THE PLEDGE

Eisenhower's 1952 election campaign, which was against the liberal Adlai Stevenson, had the character of a moral crusade and a religious revival. Baptist minister Billy Graham worked closely with "Ike." He gave Eisenhower a Scofield Bible, thus assuring the public that this President would not be reading a liberal interpretation of the scripture. Patriotism and piety combined to serve as an ideological weapon against atheistic Communism during his two terms in office, 1953-1961.

Eisenhower understood the importance of a President's symbolic duties as the nation's spiritual leader. Within the American civil religion, the President functions as a high priest in much the same way as the Jewish priesthood in the Old Testament. During his administration, the Eisenhower-Graham alliance included giving Graham office space in the White House and the State Department giving Graham briefings after each of Graham's international Christian crusades. (See Lori Bogles,' "The Pentagon Battle for the American Mind.").

One of the most popular measures during Eisenhower's administration was his addition to the Pledge of the two words, "under God." These two words incorporated the American civil religion into the nation's domestic and international policies. After signing the legislation into law on June 14, 1954,. 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 school house, the dedication of our Nation and our people to the Almighty."

After signing the "under God" addition in the Pledge resolution on June 14th, 1954, Eisenhower participated in an air raid drill to help prepare the American people for the possibility of nuclear war with the Soviet Union. On June 15th, 1954, Eisenhower authorized the CIA to overthrow the Socialist government in Guatemala.

Congress officially added the phrase "under God" to the Pledge in order to differentiate the religious republic of the United States from the atheistic Soviet Union's republics. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics' propaganda stated that the USSR, unlike the United States, had "EQUALITY, liberty and justice for all" racial and ethnic groups in the Soviet republics. In the 1950's the USSR continually pointed out to the world that government enforced racial segregation was common throughout the USA. In 1892 Francis Bellamy deliberately had left the word, "equality," out of the Pledge in order to avoid the public school segregation problem. He wrote the Pledge for a committee of the National Education Association. In 1892 the NEA supported racial and sexual segregation. In 1954 the USA racial segregation pattern was similar to that found in 1892.

In May 1954, one month before "under God" was added to the Pledge, the US Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education ruled against segregated public schools. Most southern Congressmen opposed this court decision. Many segregationists believed that Communists and Communist sympathizers were leading the integration movement. They believed that "race mixing" was against the Bible and would lead to interracial marriages. School desegregation was seen as the first major step in this direction. (See Danielle Allen's "Talking to Strangers.")

By adding "under God" to the Pledge, many Congressmen hoped to give school children and the public not only a revised Pledge that would oppose Communism but also one that would lessen the rising racial tensions over school segregation. Segregation threatened to divide the country's white citizenry on the topic of race and "racial equality."

In 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She was arrested by the local government for refusing to obey a bus segregation law. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., in response to Parks' protest, lead a 381-day boycott against the Montgomery Bus Line, King was soon leading other non-violent demonstrations in acts of civil disobedience against state and local segregation laws and practices. School desegregation was part of this battle. The Pledge played only a small role in this racial conflict,.

Luke Hart, who was the Knights' "Supreme Knight" from 1953 to 1962, was its leader during the 1950's. He lead the Knight's efforts to add "under God" to the Pledge in 1954 in order to make the Pledge a religious statement. In 1948 he had a major role in starting the Knight's Catholic Advertising program and a Religious Information Bureau to explain Catholic beliefs to the nation.

He had a major role in leading the fraternal order in its opposition to Communist doctrine. In the early 1950's the Knights supported the controversial Senator Joseph McCarthy in his efforts to ferret out Communists in the United States government. McCarthy was a member of the Knights of Columbus.

Hart also was a leader in the Order's insurance company. It loaned millions of dollars to Catholic parishes and products. During the 1950's this company also invested millions of dollars into secular projects, including a major investment in the Yankee Stadium property.

Pope John Paul II called the Knights of Columbus the "strong right arm of the Church." The Knights' headquarters is in New Haven, Connecticut., and it had almost a million members in the 1950's. Throughout its history, the Knights have supported the Catholic Church. (See Christopher Kauffman's "Patriotism and Fraternalism in the Knights of Columbus, a History of the Fourth Degree.")

From it's beginning, the Knights have supported and promoted the religious, political, educational and social welfare programs of the American Catholic Church. In 1882 Father Michal McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus as a fraternal benefit society of Roman Catholic man in Waterbury Connecticut. He created a Catholic fraternal order and lodge for Roman Catholic men and a life insurance company for their families. (Father McGivney may be canonized a Roman Catholics Saint within the next ten years.)

The Knights have four degrees. The third degree Knights are the source of the members for the Fourth Degree. The fourth Degree was initiated in 1899 to promote a Catholic form of patriotism in the USA, and to counteract the bigotry among patriotic Protestants against Catholics. In 1899 many Americans thought of the native Roman Catholics as "un-American" and the Vatican as a "conspiratorial foreign power." The Knights promoted a new patriotic image for Catholics by pointing out the Catholic's role in the founding of America - Columbus in 1492, the early Spanish settlements in Florida, etc.

The Knights opposed the US military interventions in Catholic Countries during and after the Spanish American war of 1898. During this war, the USA defeated the Catholic country of Spain and occupied the Catholic countries of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. In the next thirty years the USA would occupy for varying lengths of time parts of the Catholic countries of Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Nicaragua, and Mexico.

The Knights' political "Catholic Action" efforts have included helping the Vatican in its political and social efforts throughout the world. In the 1920's the Knights began helping the Vatican with its social work projects in Rome, Italy. In the 1950's the Knights promoted US policies that helped limit the persecution of Roman Catholics in Communist countries in eastern Europe and Vietnam. The Knights also urged US cooperation with Catholic countries around the world, including Franco's Spain.

THE PLEDGE'S ROLE IN AMERICAN CULTURE

President Bush, John Ashcroft. the Attorney General, and nearly all of the members of the US House of Representatives ( started reciting the Pledge in 1988) and the Senate (started reciting the Pledge in 1999) disagreed with the US 9th Circuit Court Judge Alfred T. Goodwin's 2002 ruling that Congress's addition of the words, "under God," to the Pledge was in violation of the 1st Amendment. In 2003, the Attorney Generals of the fifty states also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse this US 9th District Court decision. A supreme court hearing was on March 24, 2004. On June 14, 2004, the supreme court overturned the US 9th court's decision

One legal issue involved in this controversy over the addition of "under God" to the Pledge is whether or not a large majority of the population, through their State Legislatures and Congress, may mandate the exact wording of a specific patriotic ritual (the Pledge) for the students and teachers in our public schools when a minority of the citizens do not like its wording and/or ritual. The apparent issue is whether or not the Pledge is a state mandated "public prayer" for the public schools.

The citizens of the USA are people of many different religious but also of no faith. When we say "people of every faith," we mean Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhist, Hindus, Unitarian-Universalists, etc., and also people of no religious faith. Perhaps about 80 or 70 percent of the American population like "under God" in the Pledge and perhaps 20 or 30 percent do not like it there. Many of the people who do not like it are people of no religious faith.

A Scripps/Ohio State University study of 1990 found that those declaring no religious preference were 11 percent of respondents. California has the highest concentration of the non- religious of any state - 15 percent. About 81 percent of U.S adults identified with a religion, but only 54 percent said that someone in their household belonged to a church, synagogue, or other house of workshop. A recent survey of the new American Religious Identification Survey released by the City University of New York reported that 14 percent of respondents were atheists, agnostics, secular humanists or showed no religious affiliation. (ARIS 2001)

The major role of the Flag in American culture is unique among nations. USA is the only country to have an elaborate flag patriotism culture. It has a Flag Day, a Flag Code etiquette, a national anthem dedicated to its flag, and a verbal flag salute to the flag, the Pledge of Allegiance. Some nations have some of these practices but none have all of them. Very few nations have a verbal flag salute like the Pledge.

Today, Americans have chosen to make much of the flag of the US as an important part of our symbolic environment. The flag stands outside or inside our schools, our federal, state or local government buildings, our parks, our homes and our automobiles. We acknowledge it ritually before a wide range of athletic, cultural and social event - at athletic games, band concerts, federal state and local government councils, fraternal and youth group meetings, school and university ceremonies, etc.

Historically, the Flag was seen on a regular basis only at military bases and on ships. Locally the flag was flown normally only on national holidays, such as July 4th. After the 1890's, the flag became common in the classroom. Today the flag is seen everywhere. Many elected and appointed federal official now commonly wear the flag as a pin on their lapel or blouse. The flag and its Star Spangled Banner National Anthem and the verbal flag salute, the Pledge of Allegiance, are at the center of American patriotism.

Some experts argue that the Flag and its Pledge patriotism ritual are part of a larger culture of symbols and values known as a "civil religion." A "civil religion" is a set of beliefs and symbols and attitudes that explain the values, goals and mission of a nation, its government and its people in terms of their faith in God. A "civil religion" can help unite a nation divided by controversy. ethnicity, gender, race, class, politics, regionalism, religion, etc. (See Scot M. Guenter's, "The American Flag.")

For school children and many other citizens, the flag and the pledge have come to represent America. The Pledge of Allegiance express this in a public ritual. The use of the pledge ritual evokes feelings of nationalism, patriotism, of loyalty to God and Country. This Pledge patriotism culture is incorporated in state and federal laws.

The US Supreme Court has made two historical decisions about the laws of the states involving mandated pledge rituals in the public school. In a June 3, 1940, Minersville School District v. Gobitis decision, it ruled that a local school board could expel students who refused to recite the Pledge. Over the next two years a wave of anti-Jehovah's Witness hysteria developed because the members of this religious group refused to recite the Pledge. For example, in Kennebunk, Maine, the local citizens sacked and burned a Jehovah's Witness Hall. The Jehovah's Witnesses believed that saluting the Flag and reciting the Pledge were forbidden by the Bible (see Chapter 20 in Exodus).

In 1943 the Supreme Court reversed this ruling in the West Virginia State Board of Education et al. Barnette decision. It said that State departments of education and local school boards could mandate the form of patriotism in the classroom but could not require the students to recite the Pledge.

Perhaps a related issues is whether or not public school teachers should be required to recite the Pledge. President Bush's father, President George Herbert Walker Bush, stated that he disagreed with Governor Michael Dukakis' unsuccessful veto of a Massachusetts 1980's law which fined teachers five dollars a day for not reciting the Pledge. Bush said, "Should public school teachers be required to lead our children in the Pledge of Allegiance?...My opponent says no - but I say yes." This Massachusetts law apparently is still in effect.

An interesting pledge "curiosity" is that Arkansas, Georgia and Texas have adopted laws for pledges of allegiance to their state flags. These state pledges, even though they are similar in wording to the national Pledge, do not include the words, "under God." For example. the "Salute to the Texas Flag" goes as follows: "Honor the Texas Flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one and indivisible."

QUESTION 2. What have been the historical changes in the wording and the Flag salute ritual of the Pledge of Allegiance??

ANSWER: The Original 1892 Wording and Flag Salute Ritual of the Pledge:

The original words and accompanying ritual of the Pledge of Allegiance was presented in the September 8th, 1892, issue of The Youth's Companion, a popular weekly magazine published in Boston.

Its September 8th issue had the following announcement: "when the Superintendents of Education, last February, accepted The Companion's plan for this national Public School celebration, they instructed their Executive Committee to prepare an Official Program of exercises for the Day, uniform for every school....Let every pupil and friend of the Schools who reads The Companion, at once present personally the following program to the Teachers, Superintendents, School Boards, and Newspapers in the towns and cities in which they reside."

This "Official Program" for the "National Columbus Public Schools Celebration of October 21, 1892" was a complete patriotic program for the nations' public schools' celebration. Francis J. Bellamy prepared its two page "Official Program":

1. Reading of the President's Proclamation by the Master of Ceremonies....
2. Raising of the Flag by the Veterans...
3. Salute to the Flag by the Pupils:

"At a signal from the Principal the pupils, in ordered ranks, hands to the side, face the Flag. Another order is given; every pupil give the Flag the military salute -right hand lifted, palm downward, to a line with forehead close to it. Standing thus, all repeat together, slowly: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands; one Nation, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.' At the words, 'to my flag,.' the right hand is extended gracefully, palm upward, towards the Flag, and remains in this gesture until the end of the affirmation; whereupon all hands immediately drop to the side. Then, still standing as the instruments strike a cord, all will sing America- 'My Country, 'tis of The'"

4. Acknowledgement of God. Prayer or Scripture..........

The 1923 and 1924 Modifications of the Wording of the Original Pledge:

The First National Flag Conference, held in Washington, June 14-15, 1923, which was attended by eighty delegates from patriotic societies, fraternal orders, civic bodies and other organizations, modified the Pledge to read: "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

The Second National Flag Conference, held in Washington on Flag Day, June 14, 1924, further modified the Pledge to read as follows" "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of American and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

The 1942 Modifications of the Flag salute Ritual of the Original Pledge:

On June 22, 1942, the US Congress officially approved the 1924 version of the Pledge and added it to the US Flag Code. In December, 1942, Congress substituted the present ritual of the right hand over the heart in place of the original straight right arm salute. Congress apparently was embarrassed by the similarity between the original Flag salute and the Nazi salute.

The 1954 Modification of the Wording of the 1924 Pledge:

The US Congress and the President officially added "under God" to the Pledge on Flag Day, June 14, 1954. This version goes as follows, "I pledge allegiance to the of Flag to the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Three minor variations were considered: 1. "One Nation under God," 2. "One Nation, under God," and 3. "One Nation indivisible under God." Congress accepted the Library of Congress's recommendation of variation #1. The Library gave the following reason for its recommendation: "Since the basic idea is a Nation founded on a belief in God, there would seem to be no reason for the comma after nation."

Probably most people recite the Pledge as if it has a comma after "One Nation," as shown in the #2 variation considered in 1954. The National Education Association apparently advices teachers to use the "correct" #1 variation and to oppose the use of the #2 variation in the classroom. The absence or presence of this comma is noticeable when a class or other group attempts to recite the Pledge in unison. No organization apparently is interested in promoting the #3 variation of the Pledge.

QUESTION 3:
Francis Bellamy, the author of the Pledge, was a Christian Socialist who believed that Jesus was a socialist. What is "socialism??" What is a "Christian Socialist??" Was Jesus a "socialist??"

ANSWER:
"Socialism" is usually defined as "government ownership and control of the means of production" (the means of production are often defined as "land, labor, capital, and entrepureship"). Many people broaden this definition to include "government redistribution of income and/or wealth." This government redistribution usually involves the transfer of income and/or wealth from affluent citizens to lower income citizens but sometimes involves the transfer of income and/or wealth from the lower income citizens to the affluent citizens.

Francis Bellamy thought that Jesus was a socialist based on the "social gospel" found in Jesus' and James' statements quoted in the New Testament books of Mark and James. Mark 10.23 "'How hard it will be for rich people to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.' The disciples were shocked at these words, but Jesus went on to say, 'My children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God. It is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of the needle.'"

James 5.1: "And now you rich people, listen to me. Weep and wail over the miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches have rotted away, and your clothes have been eaten by moths. Your gold and your sliver covered with rust and this rust will be a witness against you and will eat up your flesh like fire. You have piled up riches in these last days. You have not paid any wages to the men who work in your fields. Listen to their complaints! The cries of those who gather in your crops have reached the ears of the God, the Lord Almighty. Your life here on earth had been full of luxury and pleasure. You have made yourselves fat for the day of slaughter."

What is a Christian Socialist?? The term "Christian Socialism" apparently was coined by J.F.D. Maurice in England in 1848. Maurice, Charles Kingsley and other British Christians argued that the essence of Christianity was brotherhood. They criticized the laissez-faire economic doctrine of no government interference in the economy. They criticized the rich who paid wages merely sufficient to keep their workmen alive and used human beings as a means to selfish ends. They saw the economy as people working together, not a collection of competing individuals. They believed that the principle of justice, not of selfishness and greed, should govern economic life.

In April 1889, largely under the influence of Edward Bellamy and his nationalist Movement, W.D.P. Bliss and Francis Bellamy and other church ministers, living mainly in Boston and the Northeast, formed the Society of Christian Socialists. Its constitution emphasized the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, and God's stewardship of all property. It criticized, the industrial and commercial economic system in the USA as too individualistic, unjust, and contrary to the law of God. It recommended Socialism as the economy for Christians and unsuccessfully invited all Christians and their churches to join the Christian Socialist reform movement (see W.D.P. Bliss's "Encyclopedia of Social Reform").

Bellamy's mentor and owner and editor of the Youth's Companion magazine, Daniel Sharp Ford, also was a believer in the social gospel, but he did not believe that a Christian should work for the goal of a socialist economy. Like the founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley, Ford believed that a businessman should support charity, philanthropy, and social justice in the economy.

Following the social gospel, the wealthy Ford gave away most of his wealth. His philanthropy is still supporting good works in Boston - the social work of the Baptist Social Union located in the Tremont Temple Baptist Church, the sometimes controversial monthly lectures at the Ford Hall Forum at North Eastern University, and the operations of his former church, the Ruggles Street Baptist Church.

Was Jesus a socialist?? In Matthew 22.21, Jesus says "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are Gods." This is hardly a clear recommendation for a socialist economy in which the federal, state and local governments would own the means of production. It might be a recommendation for a "mixed economy" in which government, private institutions and individuals cooperate in running the economy. Jesus probably thought redistribution of income and wealth should take place mainly through the family, the community, the church, and philanthropy.

A few people argue that Jesus and his apostles were "primitive communists" who believed that a Christian should follow the communist motto of "from each according to his ability and to each according to his need." The Christians would be like brothers and sisters to each other, sharing some meals, housing, and other expenses, and helping others in need. Over the past decades, most communist governments of the world claimed to be following this motto; in practice, they were usually tyrannical governments dominated by dictators.

QUESTION 4:
Is there any organization, museum or library dedicated to the history of the Pledge of Allegiance to the life of its author, Francis J. Bellamy?? Where did Bellamy live and work during his life time?

ANSWER:
There is no organization, museum or library dedicated to the history of the Pledge or the life of its author, Francis Bellamy. However, Bellamy left some of his papers to the library of the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY. The Rome Historical Society in Rome, NY, has a collection of articles about Bellamy. Louise Harris donated to the Brown University Library in Providence, RI, a collection of miscellaneous materials about the history of the Pledge and The Youth's Companion magazine and its owners, Daniel Sharp Ford and James Upham.

The museum and library of the Edward Bellamy Memorial Association in Chicopee, MA, has genealogical material on the Bellamy ancestry of Edward Bellmay and Francis Bellamy but little information about the Pledge and Francis Bellamy. Edward Bellamy (1850 - 1898) was a first cousin and close friend of Francis Bellamy (1855 -1931). Their fathers were Baptist ministers.

Where did Francis Bellamy live and work?? Below is an estimated chronology of his residence and places of business, 1855 - 1931: