[RLK]

"Red scare" is a term used by leftist to demean the seriousness of a situation that existed.

[Kenyon]

Interesting timeline. One of America's greatest early supporters of liberty AND religion, Roger Williams, would be justifiably appalled by the forced injection of these sorts of slogans in the classroom and in government.

[mattdono]

And your point is that the "Red Scare" has caused all of these phrases and that our country is a God-fearing country?

A few points:

1. Our country is comprised of people how believe in a higher power: God. In fact, almost 75% specifically identify with God, in the Old Testament sense (the whole Judeo-Christian thing).
2. We live in a representative democracy and people who believe in God represent the majority of people. Hence, our country's mottos, pledges, etc. should represent our beliefs.
3. The founding of this country was based on a "divine providence". The Founders believed that what they were doing was favorable in God's eyes.
4. The seperation of Church and State is a farce. The government can NOT institute a state religion, but it can't take sides with an atheist either, and that is PRECISELY what is happening here.

And, as far as thie being a response to the "Red Scare", I am afraid that you don't have a proper understand of the men who created this country. They were, contrary to leftist lies and revisionist history, some of the most pious men ever to walk the face of the earth.

Of course, I guess that you are going to dismiss the idea of being pious too.

[maeng]

Then we should also rule unconstitutional Lincoln's act freeing the slaves as he "called on God" in his speech and writing of the Eman. Proclamation. Right?

[Wm Bach]

Many of you continue to assert that the Founders would've endorsed this mixture of God and government.

WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness -- That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. ...

...WE, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATED OF AMERICA, in GENERAL CONGRESS, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

[grebu]

There is no "separation of church and state" in the US Constitution. It was a phrase Thomas Jefferson wrote to Danbury Baptists in 1802 to convince them that the United States would never establish a national nomination - 11 years after the First Amendment was ratified.

The First Amendment says only that Congress shall "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Meaning that Congress shall not establish a religion or prevent you from practicing one. But the words "under God" do not do that, they are not denominationally monotheistic.

The problem for those who argue that it does is contradiction - That the same men who created the Constitution and supposedly wanted a "separation of church and state" also put "In God We Trust" all over our federal currency. On the same day that the founding Congress past the First Amendment - September 25, 1789 - the same approved a resolution asking President George Washington to enact "a day of public thanksgiving and prayer." And it was President Thomas Jefferson, as head of the District of Columbia school system, who made the Bible and Isaac Wyatt's hymnal a pair of mandatory readings.

This court system is banning a pledge "under God" when the First Amendment says the power is limited to Congress, not state and local governments. These are not federal schools.

The Declaration of Independence mentions "natural God," and "that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights"

This is nothing more than knee-jerk ultraliberal legislation in the People's Republic of San Francisco. It won't hold up.

And since when do we have a right not to be offended or to not to feel isolated. That happens to me daily. Who do I get to sue?

It's like the environmentalists. They twist and warp everything to achieve their version of utopia.

[mikeb704]

1950s - The Red Scare: In a search for "commies". . .

I like how quote marks are used, as if to suggest there weren't any Commies. We all know better.

Michael M. Bates: My Side of the Swamp

[M. Thatcher]

1956 - The secular phrase "E Pluribus Unum" ("Out of many, one") is replaced with "In God We Trust" as the national motto. President Eisenhower first institutes the annual "National Prayer Breakfast" held in the White House. The phrase "So help me God" is added to the oath taken by Federal judges and other officials.

1956. A very good year.

[PatrickHenry]

I was probably in the 6th grade when the pledge was changed. Adding "under God" wasn't upsetting to anyone, as I remember it. After all, we were usually reciting the Lord's Prayer right after the pledge. (And yes, this was a public school.)

But even as a kid, a couple of things did bother me. First, I found it vaguely unsettling that something as apparently ancient and venerable as the pledge could be changed at all. I never thought very deeply about it, but I can still remember that I found the concept of revising the pledge a bit puzzling. But what does a kid know?

Also, having learned the old pledge, I always thought it had a certain wonderful cadence to the flow of the words, and that this almost musical quality was disrupted by the addition of "under God." Try it yourself, aloud. Say the words: " ... one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." It sounds lyrical. At least to me. With the extra words added , the pledge has more meaning, of course; but it's always sounded somewhat choppy. Which is certainly not relevant to the court's decision.

One more recollection, while I'm at it. Most of us were probably saying: " ... one nation, invisible ... " It wasn't until around the 5th or 6th grade that I finally got that word right and understood what it meant.

[flying Elvis]

A bit of trivia for you.

Do you know how to tell if an old Texaco sign is vintage or modern? Look at the star on it. Texaco changed the color of its star from red to white during the red scare.

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

J.P.McCARTHY WAS A TRUE AMERICAN HERO!

[kidd]

ToT -

What a ridiculous argument. You did not tie the insertion of God into the pledge with the McCarthy hearings. Instead all you have said is that they occurred at the same time.

By the same stupid logic, you could also say that the national highway system, I Love Lucy, statehood for Hawaii and air conditioning are a result of the "Red Scare".

[KC_Conspirator]

Nobody has said that the Founders wanted to mix religion and government into a theocracy. That is a flat out lie fit for a college classroom of freshmen and sophomores who don't know any better. Reciting the pledge is not an "oppressive theocracy" nor is having any other mottos on our currency. None of this is the establishment of an official religion.

[billbears]

But, as you can see, these religious slogans and practices were not adopted until much later during the Red Scare.

Did they have a 'Red Scare' we didn't know about in the 1700s?

Knowledge, morality, and religion being essential for the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education are to be forever encouraged."--Northwest Ordinance

[DJ MacWoW]

Many of you continue to assert that the Founders would've endorsed this mixture of God and government.

Actually, they did. Our countrys history is full of assertions that this is a God fearing nation.

"... True religion affords to government its surest support." George Washington.(Eidsmoe, p.124.)

"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible." George Washington.( Dr. Sterling Lacy, Valley of Decision (Dayspring Productions,Texarkana, TX) p.3)

Even the Courts backed this idea until 1947.

"... Offenses against religion and morality ... strike at the root of moral obligation, and weaken the security of the social ties ... this [First Amendment] declaration ... never meant to withdraw religion ...and with it the best sanctions of moral and social obligation from all consideration and notice of the law ..." Supreme Court, 1811.(People v. Ruggles; 8 Johns 546 (1811).

"It yet remains a problem to be solved in human affairs whether any free government can be permanent where the public worship of God, and the support of religion, constitute no part of the policy or duty of the state in any assignable shape." Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story.(Verna M. Hall and Rosalie J. Slater, The Bible and the Constitution)

"... For whatever strikes at the root of Christianity tends manifestly to the dissolution of civil government ... because it tends to corrupt the morals of the people, and to destroy good order." Supreme Court of New York, 1811.(People v. Ruggles; 8 Johns 546 (1811).

"... Religion ... must be considered as the foundation on which the whole structure rests ... In this age there can be no substitute for Christianity... the great conservative element on which we must rely for the purity and permanence of free institutions." Senate Judiciary Committee, 1853.( B.F. Morris, The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States (George W. Childs, Philadelphia, 1864)p. 318-329)

[VOA]

bump

[VOA]

But, as you can see, these religious slogans and practices were not adopted
until much later during the Red Scare.

(Just a side-bar comment)
It may have been called The Red Scare, but it was a real threat.

People just need to see the PBS NOVA episode "Secrets, Lies and Atomic Spies".

It blew my mind to hear a documentary on PBS of all places say that at least
300 Soviet operatives were in the US Government and military, hear an interview with
Gus Hall, an atomic scientist who did give secrets to the Soviets, and to
hear that it's virtually a lock that Alger Hiss was a Soviet operative.

And to say that Tail-gunner Joe was right about the US government being infiltrated by
Soviet operatives...he just was wrong in the people he pointed his finger at, thanks to the
intelligence community withholding information from him.

If any thing, the threat today may be "closeted" elected atheists.
An atheistic advocate on the Micheael Medved Show claimed yesterday that he was
in contact with elected atheists around the country...but he refused to "out"
any of them.
I couldn't help wonder how many of them were among the Democratic Senators who
joined in that 99-0 vote for the Pledge yesterday.

[goodnesswins]

In regard to this topic....here's a quote from James Madison, "father of the Constitution"...

"We have staked the entire future of the American civilization not upon the power of governmnet but upon the capacity of the individual to govern himself, control himself, and sustain himself according to the Ten Commandments of God."

I believe because the power of government is TOO GREAT, we (man) are trying to insert what Madison referred to as our "capacity to .....sustain ...ourselves...according to the Ten Commandments of God."

If government wasn't so wrapped up in obliterating God from our public places....we wouldn't be having this outrage, IMHO.

[x]

You may have learned by now, that "Red Scare" and "commies" are polemical terms that carry more polemical freight than more neutral words would. Historicizing -- that is, putting into historical context -- the encounter of the US with Communism is probably inevitable. Slighting and caricaturing that confrontation isn't. The encounter or confrontation with Communism, and the revolutionary atheistic humanism that lay behind it, arguably was the great event of the 20th century. In any event, as one wouldn't speak of the 40s as a "Brown scare," why ridicule the 50s as a "Red Scare?" Especially since what was going on then was more serious than what happened in earlier "Red Scares." Even hard core anti-anti-Communists traditionally used "Red Scare" to apply to the Palmer Raids after WWI, and reserved "McCarthyism" for the post-WWII concern about Communists. That's a mistake too, but no point in going into that now.

"In God We Trust" was first put on coins in 1864. When it was taken off in 1907, congress required that it be put back on in 1908. In 1955 it was made mandatory on coinage and the next year it became the National Motto, which the Department of State confirmed in 1963. E Pluribus Unum is "a motto." More here.

Actually, I prefer "E pluribus unum." It sounds more ancient and mysterious, and doesn't suggest jokes about "all others pay cash."

[Texas_Jarhead]

Don't make you pull out my big book of American religiosity.