One Nation-Under God?

While President –Elect Obama’s choice of Pastor Warren to speak at the inauguration has received most of the attention another religious controversy is brewing out there. And this one may have a more lasting effect on our national psyche. According to CNN, a number of atheists and non-religious organizations want Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony to leave out all references to God and religion. In a lawsuit filed last week in Washington, the plaintiffs demanded that the words "so help me God" not be added to the end of the president's oath of office. Additionally, the lawsuit objects to plans for ministers to deliver any invocation or benediction during which God or religion would be discussed.

This is a much more disturbing development than any protest of Pastor Warren’s positions on any particular issue. What is being attacked here is a fundamental aspect of our culture. Religious freedom does not mean freedom from religion. As John Adams stated in 1798, “We have no government armed with the power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, rivalry or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

American is founded on the idea of some sort of divine power looking either down or over us. One needs only look at the religion/spirituality section at any local Borders to see that we are a nation of seekers. To make mention of a nondenominational godhead in public discourse should not be offensive. It is nothing more than a recognition of who we are in a real cultural sense, just as our innate belief in liberty or the pursuit of happiness. Even though we believe vastly divergent things about the deity, we are nonetheless a nation of believers.

According to the Pew Research Center 4% of the population is either atheist or agnostic, while nearly 80% believes in some form of Christianity. We can all agree that minority positions should not be discriminated against, but those minority groups should not dictate all policy either. A larger percentage of our country is racist than agnostic, but we wouldn’t dream of eliminating all references to equality in our public discourse to avoid offending them. Would we?

When our country was suffering from the after-shocks of 911 the nations politicians gathered in Washington to sing a song of solidarity. They sang to be together, to signal hope and faith in the nation’s strength and future. They sang to show the world we could over come this much as we have always over come adversity. What song did they sing? “God Bless America.” As much as we value a separation of church and state we can no more eliminate the belief in some sort of god than we can eliminate who we are as a one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.