Eh, it’s a free country. If she feels that way, it’s not a big deal. I mean, her logic could be:
1. Jesus specifically spoke against public prayer.
2. By inserting “Under God”, the pledge becomes a prayer.
3. Taking out “Under God” would be to not say the official pledge. Since the pledge is one whole unit it would be wrong to pick and choose the wording.
Point #1 is definitely true. One could make an argument for point #2. Point #3 is the weakest point, but it’s not an outlandish view.
I’ll criticize Josephs on her policy views, but not on this.
1. Jesus specifically spoke against public prayer.
You are sadly misinformed. What Jesus spoke against was hypocritical prayers in public. However, Jesus and His disciples prayed in public all the time.
Jews are required to pray three times a day. So what the Pharisees were doing was purposely scheduling their day so that they would be in very crowded public places at those times so that the people would see them pray. They were more interested in the praise of men.
When you pray for specific needs for your self, Jesus said do so in secret and your father in heaven will reward you publicly. However, when you do so for the specific purpose of receiving praises from men, Jesus said you already received your reward openly from men.
That is what Jesus was speaking of, and that is why He called them hypocrites. If there is a reason for public prayer, God does not look down on it. There are times to pray in public, and there are times not to do so. Doing for the specific purpose of receiving glory from men is bad. It shows how ones heart is.
Having Gods name in a pledge is not wrong and it is definitely not hypocritical to do so, unless you do it just for praise of men.