[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2690 Referred in House (RFH)]
2d Session
S. 2690
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 27, 2002
Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To reaffirm the reference to one Nation under God in the Pledge of
Allegiance.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
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), 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),
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.
SEC. 2. ONE NATION UNDER GOD.
(a) Reaffirmation.--Section 4 of title 4, United States Code, is
amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 4. Pledge of allegiance to the flag; manner of delivery
``The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag: `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.', should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with
the right hand over the heart. When not in uniform men should remove
their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder,
the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should remain silent,
face the flag, and render the military salute.''.
(b) Codification.--In codifying this subsection, the Office of the
Law Revision Council shall make no change in section 4, title 4, United
States Code, but shall show in the historical and statutory notes that
the 107th Congress reaffirmed the exact language that has appeared in
the Pledge for decades.
SEC. 3. REAFFIRMING THAT GOD REMAINS IN OUR MOTTO.
(a) Reaffirmation.--Section 302 of title 36, United States Code, is
amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 302. National motto
```In God we trust' is the national motto.''.
(b) Codification.--In codifying this subsection, the Office of the
Law Revision Council shall make no change in section 302, title 36,
United States Code, but shall show in the historical and statutory
notes that the 107th Congress reaffirmed the exact language that has
appeared in the Motto for decades.
Passed the Senate June 27, 2002.
Attest:
JERI THOMSON,
Secretary.