https://law.justia.com/codes/us/2018/title-4/chapter-1/sec-4/
FINDINGS
Pub. L. 107–293, §1, Nov. 13, 2002, 116 Stat. 2057, provided that: "Congress
finds the following:
"(1) On November 11, 1620, prior to embarking for the shores of America, the
Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact that declared: 'Having undertaken, for
the Glory of God and the advancement of the Christian Faith and honor of our
King and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of
Virginia,'.
"(2) On July 4, 1776, America's Founding Fathers, after appealing to the 'Laws
of Nature, and of Nature's God' to justify their separation from Great Britain,
then declared: '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'.
"(3) In 1781, Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence
and later the Nation's third President, in his work titled 'Notes on the State
of Virginia' wrote: 'God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the
liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm
basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the
Gift of God. That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I
tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot
sleep forever.'
"(4) On May 14, 1787, George Washington, as President of the Constitutional
Convention, rose to admonish and exhort the delegates and declared: 'If to
please the people we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward
defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can
repair; the event is in the hand of God!'
"(5) On July 21, 1789, on the same day that it approved the Establishment
Clause concerning religion, the First Congress of the United States also passed
the Northwest Ordinance, providing for a territorial government for lands
northwest of the Ohio River, which declared: 'Religion, morality, and
knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind,
schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.'
"(6) On September 25, 1789, the First Congress unanimously approved a
resolution calling on President George Washington to proclaim a National Day of
Thanksgiving for the people of the United States by declaring, 'a day of public
thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts,
the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an
opportunity peaceably to establish a constitution of government for their
safety and happiness.'
"(7) On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg
Address on the site of the battle and declared: 'It is rather for us to be here
dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we
take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure
of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in
vain—that 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.'
"(8) On April 28, 1952, in the decision of the Supreme Court of the United
States in Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. 306 (1952), in which school children were
allowed to be excused from public schools for religious observances and
education, Justice William O. Douglas, in writing for the Court stated: 'The
First Amendment, however, does not say that in every and all respects there
shall be a separation of Church and State. Rather, it studiously defines the
manner, the specific ways, in which there shall be no concern or union or
dependency one on the other. That is the common sense of the matter. Otherwise
the State and religion would be aliens to each other—hostile, suspicious, and
even unfriendly. Churches could not be required to pay even property taxes.
Municipalities would not be permitted to render police or fire protection to
religious groups. Policemen who helped parishioners into their places of
worship would violate the Constitution. Prayers in our legislative halls; the
appeals to the Almighty in the messages of the Chief Executive; the
proclamations making Thanksgiving Day a holiday; "so help me God" in our
courtroom oaths—these and all other references to the Almighty that run through
our laws, our public rituals, our ceremonies would be flouting the First
Amendment. A fastidious atheist or agnostic could even object to the
supplication with which the Court opens each session: "God save the United
States and this Honorable Court." '
"(9) On June 15, 1954, Congress passed and President Eisenhower signed into law
a statute that was clearly consistent with the text and intent of the
Constitution of the United States, that amended the Pledge of Allegiance to
read: 'I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to
the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all.'
"(10) On July 20, 1956, Congress proclaimed that the national motto of the
United States is 'In God We Trust', and that motto is inscribed above the main
door of the Senate, behind the Chair of the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, and on the currency of the United States.
"(11) On June 17, 1963, in the decision of the Supreme Court of the United
States in Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963), in which
compulsory school prayer was held unconstitutional, Justices Goldberg and
Harlan, concurring in the decision, stated: 'But untutored devotion to the
concept of neutrality can lead to invocation or approval of results which
partake not simply of that noninterference and noninvolvement with the
religious which the Constitution commands, but of a brooding and pervasive
devotion to the secular and a passive, or even active, hostility to the
religious. Such results are not only not compelled by the Constitution, but, it
seems to me, are prohibited by it. Neither government nor this Court can or
should ignore the significance of the fact that a vast portion of our people
believe in and worship God and that many of our legal, political, and personal
values derive historically from religious teachings. Government must inevitably
take cognizance of the existence of religion and, indeed, under certain
circumstances the First Amendment may require that it do so.'
"(12) On March 5, 1984, in the decision of the Supreme Court of the United
States in Lynch v. Donelly, 465 U.S. 668 (1984), in which a city government's
display of a nativity scene was held to be constitutional, Chief Justice
Burger, writing for the Court, stated: 'There is an unbroken history of
official acknowledgment by all three branches of government of the role of
religion in American life from at least 1789 . . . [E]xamples of reference to
our religious heritage are found in the statutorily prescribed national motto
"In God We Trust" (36 U.S.C. 186) [now 36 U.S.C. 302], which Congress and the
President mandated for our currency, see (31 U.S.C. 5112(d)(1) (1982 ed.)), and
in the language "One Nation under God", as part of the Pledge of Allegiance to
the American flag. That pledge is recited by many thousands of public school
children—and adults—every year . . . Art galleries supported by public
revenues display religious paintings of the 15th and 16th centuries,
predominantly inspired by one religious faith. The National Gallery in
Washington, maintained with Government support, for example, has long exhibited
masterpieces with religious messages, notably the Last Supper, and paintings
depicting the Birth of Christ, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection, among
many others with explicit Christian themes and messages. The very chamber in
which oral arguments on this case were heard is decorated with a notable and
permanent—not seasonal—symbol of religion: Moses with the Ten Commandments.
Congress has long provided chapels in the Capitol for religious worship and
meditation.'
"(13) On June 4, 1985, in the decision of the Supreme Court of the United
States in Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985), in which a mandatory moment
of silence to be used for meditation or voluntary prayer was held
unconstitutional, Justice O'Connor, concurring in the judgment and addressing
the contention that the Court's holding would render the Pledge of Allegiance
unconstitutional because Congress amended it in 1954 to add the words 'under
God,' stated 'In my view, the words "under God" in the Pledge, as codified at
(36 U.S.C. 172) [now 4 U.S.C. 4], serve as an acknowledgment of religion with
"the legitimate secular purposes of solemnizing public occasions, [and]
expressing confidence in the future." '
"(14) On November 20, 1992, the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th
Circuit, in Sherman v. Community Consolidated School District 21, 980 F.2d 437
(7th Cir. 1992), held that a school district's policy for voluntary recitation
of the Pledge of Allegiance including the words 'under God' was constitutional.
"(15) The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals erroneously held, in Newdow v. U.S.
Congress (9th Cir. June 26, 2002), that the Pledge of Allegiance's use of the
express religious reference 'under God' violates the First Amendment to the
Constitution, and that, therefore, a school district's policy and practice of
teacher-led voluntary recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance is
unconstitutional.
"(16) The erroneous rationale of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Newdow
would lead to the absurd result that the Constitution's use of the express
religious reference 'Year of our Lord' in Article VII violates the First
Amendment to the Constitution, and that, therefore, a school district's policy
and practice of teacher-led voluntary recitations of the Constitution itself
would be unconstitutional."
REAFFIRMATION OF LANGUAGE
Pub. L. 107–293, §2(b), Nov. 13, 2002, 116 Stat. 2060, provided that: "In
codifying this subsection [probably should be "section", meaning section 2 of
Pub. L. 107–293, which amended this section], the Office of the Law Revision
Counsel shall show in the historical and statutory notes that the 107th
Congress reaffirmed the exact language that has appeared in the Pledge for
decades."
