Some of you may remember this, on Wednesday, June 26th, 2002, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional because of the phrase “one nation under God.”
The controversial 2-1 ruling said that the reference to God amounted to government endorsement of monotheism.
If it had withstood the appeals, the decision would have meant schoolchildren would no longer have been allowed to recite the pledge in the nine states covered by the court: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.
The case was brought by Michael A. Newdow, an atheist attorney and emergency room physician from Sacramento, California, who objected to his daughter’s having to listen to the pledge being recited at school.
The justices determined that while students were not made to recite the pledge, the school district was “conveying a message of state endorsement of religious belief when it requires public school teachers to…lead the recitation.”
The decision was widely criticized in Congress, with members gathering on the steps of the Capitol building to recite the pledge en masse the following day.
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, speaking on behalf of then-President Bush, said that the ruling was “ridiculous.”
As many legal experts expected, the Supreme Court ruled a few weeks later that Michael Newdow had no grounds for his lawsuit and overturned the decision…thus keeping the words “one nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.
At this time in our nation’s history, when we are facing the worst inflation in 40 years, diseases like we’ve never seen and the highest gas prices ever, we need to seek God instead ofturning away from Him.
As we salute the red, white, and blue, we must remember that this country was founded on freedom of religion — not freedom from religion.
President Abraham Lincoln said, “The philosophy in the classroom of one generation, will be the philosophy of government in the next.”
What do you think our government will be like one generation from now if they are successful in removing every mention of God from our schools today?
On July 4th, we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence of the thirteen colonies in 1776.
Some self-proclaimed “experts” are trying to convince us today that America’s founding fathers were atheists… or agnostics at best.
But when you read the Declaration of Independence you can see that it is also a Declaration of “Dependence” upon God.
Look closely at these excerpts: “…the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them…,” “…that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…,” “…We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions… with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
Did you see the four references to God in the Declaration of Independence? Not bad for a group of “atheists,” eh?
So, as we celebrate our independence as a nation, don’t forget our dependence on God and seek His help.

Rev. Doug Johnson is the senior pastor at Raven Assembly of God in Raven, Virginia.