The Pledge Isn’t Worth Fighting?

One common criticism of Michael Newdow’s quest to have the phrase “under God” stricken from the official version of the Pledge of Allegiance is that this wasn’t an issue worth fighting. Even if the case against it is reasonable, it isn’t a worthy topic of funds, resources, and animosity. Is that a fair argument?

Tom Barry writes for AlterNet:

The culture war that pits conservatives against liberals, the right against the left, has for the past three decades reshaped politics in the United States, shifting most policy debate sharply to the right. The separation of church and state needs is a core attribute of our democracy that merits defense against the encroachments of the Religious Right.

But in the battle of values with the Religious Right and other social conservatives, this is one battle that is not worth fighting. Instead, this country's democratic and progressive traditions would be better served if more Americans proudly stood by the core values spelled out in the Pledge of Allegiance, and if we encouraged our children to help make the United States a nation that truly offers liberty and justice for all.

Barry writes a fair amount about important American values, but he doesn’t actually explain why removes the phrase “under God” isn’t an issue worth fighting. Some say that it is merely a symbol and not substantive, but that idea strikes me as silly at best, dangerously naive at worst. It’s absurd to think that symbols aren’t important and aren’t worth fighting for — the Religious Right certainly recognizes this and that’s an important reason why they fought so hard to defend the phrase “under God.”

Which brings me back to Barry’s position that this wasn’t worth fighting: it seems to me that if there is a strong constitutional case to be made and the idea that this case would prevail infuriates the Christian Right, then those two factors demonstrate that it’s an issue worth fighting. The first factor is obvious — if there were no strong constitutional case to be made, then there’s no point in bothering.

The second factor is a bit less obvious but just as important nonetheless. If Christian Right activists don’t really care, then that’s a sign that we aren’t dealing with anything that they believe is promoting their theological and political agenda. If, however, they start jumping up and down, screaming about how secularists and atheists are undermining America as a Christian Nation, then that’s pretty strong evidence that we are dealing with something of real significance. If they are so convinced that it’s a vital issue, perhaps we should listen to them. It’s not as if they are correct very often, so it’s the polite thing to do — right?

Read More:

• Secularism 101
• Separation of Church and State 101
• Religious Right
• Christian Nationalism
• Religious Intolerance & Bigotry
• Evangelicalism