[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 130 (Monday, October 7, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H7028-H7030]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 REAFFIRMING REFERENCE TO ONE NATION UNDER GOD IN PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass 
Senate bill (S. 2690) to reaffirm the reference to one Nation under God 
in the Pledge of Allegiance, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                S. 2690

       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.

[[Page H7029]]

     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 any non-religious 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 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.

     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 Counsel 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.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Scott) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. 
Sensenbrenner).


                             General Leave

  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material on S. 2690, the Senate 
bill currently under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Wisconsin?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, Senate 2690 would amend section 4 of title 4 of the U.S. 
Code to reaffirm the text of the Pledge of Allegiance, including the 
phrase, ``one Nation under God,'' and section 302 of title 36 to 
reaffirm the text of the national motto, ``In God we trust.''
  It is an accepted legal principle that government acknowledgment of 
the religious heritage of the United States is consistent with the 
meaning of the establishment clause of the first amendment. The U.S. 
Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed this principle in its rulings.
  Yet, on June 26, 2002, a three-member panel of the United States 
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held unconstitutional, in Newdow 
v. U.S. Congress, a California school district's policy and practice of 
teacher-led voluntarily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, 
concluding that the use of the phrase ``one Nation under God'' violates 
the establishment clause of the first amendment.
  The Newdow ruling is troubling because its analysis to reflect a 
belief that any religious reference presents an inherent danger to 
individuals who hear it, the result of which would be the banishment of 
all such references from the public arena. Clearly, this is 
inconsistent with any reasonable interpretation of the establishment 
clause of the first amendment. Thus, it has become necessary for 
Congress to reaffirm its understanding that the text of both the Pledge 
and our national motto are legally and historically consistent with a 
reasonable interpretation of the first amendment.
  Immediately following the Newdow ruling, on June 27, 2002, the House 
of Representatives passed House Resolution 459, which I introduced, 
expressing the sense of the House that the Newdow case was erroneously 
decided by the Ninth Circuit and that the court should agree to rehear 
the ruling en banc. H. Res. 459 passed the House of Representatives by 
a 416-3 vote.
  By passing Senate 2690, the House will join the Senate in reaffirming 
its commitment to our Nation's pledge and motto and also reaffirm that 
the myriad of ways in which Federal, State and local governments 
acknowledge America's religious heritage and its consistency with both 
historical practice and legal precedent.
  I urge Members to support this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I come from a State that has a long tradition in 
supporting religious freedom. In fact, it was Thomas Jefferson of 
Virginia who wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom which 
precedes the first amendment of the Constitution.
  Today's exercise is totally gratuitous, as nothing we do here will 
change the underlying law. This is because we are dealing with 
constitutional issues that cannot be altered by statute. If the 
Judicial branch ultimately finds the Pledge or the national motto to be 
constitutional, then nothing needs to be done. If, on the other hand, 
the courts ultimately find either to be unconstitutional, no law that 
we pass will change that.
  Although I tend to agree with the dissent in the Newdow case 
regarding the Pledge of Allegiance, I believe the reasoning of the 
majority opinion in that case was sound. In that case the Supreme Court 
applied three different tests that have been applied in the last 50 
years in evaluating the establishment clause cases.
  One test was whether the phrase ``under God'' in the Pledge 
constitutes an endorsement of religion. The majority opinion says it 
was an endorsement of one view of religion, monotheism and, therefore, 
was an unconstitutional endorsement.
  Another test was whether the individuals were coerced into being 
exposed to the religious message, and the majority opinion concluded 
that the Pledge was unconstitutional because young children ``may not 
be placed in the dilemma of either participating in a religious 
ceremony or protesting.''
  Finally, the court applied the Lemon test, part of which holds that a 
law violates the establishment clause if it has no secular or 
nonreligious purpose. For example, cases involving a moment of silence 
in public schools, some of those laws have been upheld if the law 
allows silent prayer as one of the many activities that can be done in 
silence. But courts have stricken laws in which a moment of silent 
prayer is added to existing moments of silence because that law has no 
secular purpose.
  The court concluded that the 1954 law which added ``under God'' to 
the existing Pledge had no secular purpose and, therefore, was 
unconstitutional.
  Mr. Speaker, I indicated that I tended to agree with the dissent in 
the case. The operative language in the dissent which persuaded me was, 
``Legal world abstractions and ruminations aside, when all is said and 
done, the danger that 'under God' in our Pledge of Allegiance will tend 
to bring about a theocracy or suppress someone's belief is so minuscule 
as to be de minimis. The danger that phrase represents to our first 
amendment's freedoms is picayune at best.''

[[Page H7030]]

  Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, our actions today may cause the courts to 
review the sentiments behind ``one Nation under God'' or ``In God We 
Trust'' because if the courts look at the importance that we apparently 
affix to ``one Nation under God'' or ``In God We Trust,'' then it 
diminishes the argument that the phrase has de minimis meaning and 
increases the constitutional vulnerability of the use of that phrase in 
the Pledge.
  Furthermore, the court may look at the legislation under the Lemon 
test and find that this exercise has no secular purpose and is, 
therefore, unconstitutional. The section of bill referring to ``In God 
We Trust'' as the national motto appears to be vulnerable to the same 
constitutional attack as the phrase ``under God'' in the Pledge. Those 
attacks gain validity because of our actions today.
  Mr. Speaker, let me just close with a quote from an editorial that 
appeared in the Christian Century, a non-denominational Protestant 
weekly, which a good friend was kind enough to send me. It reads, ``To 
the extent `under God' has real religious meaning, then it is 
unconstitutional. The phrase is constitutional to the extent that it is 
religiously innocuous. Given that choice, we side with the Ninth 
Circuit. We see no need, especially for Christians, to defend hollow 
references to an innocuous God.'' For those reasons, I urge Members to 
oppose this legislation.
  Mr. SHOWS. Mr. Speaker, in 1776 the great American patriot Thomas 
Paine wrote, ``These are the times that try men's souls.''
  But right now we are living in times that try men's souls. These are 
times when our faith is being tested as never before.
  Even as we contend with the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, 
three judges in California decide that our Pledge of Allegiance is 
unconstitutional because it includes the words, ``Under God.''
  The values we teach at home and church are universal and should not 
be left outside the schoolhouse door, or outside of where we work and 
play every day.
  ``One Nation Under God'' is the foundation of our Pledge of 
Allegiance. ``In God We Trust'' is our national motto and should be 
engraved in our national conscience. I am not afraid to say, ``In God 
We Trust'' wherever and whenever I want. All Americans should have that 
right.
  My father, Clifford Shows, was one of those captured as a Prisoner of 
War at the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. He stands tall when our 
Flag is displayed. There is nothing more un-American than denying our 
children the right to honor the symbol of the very freedom we all enjoy 
today.
  The California court ruling flies in the face of every veteran who 
sacrificed his or her life to protect this nation. The Court's ruling 
was a disgrace and our people deserve better.
  In the 106th Congress I introduced a resolution that encourages ``In 
God We Trust'' to be posted prominently in all public and government 
buildings, just like it is in my own office, right next to the Ten 
Commandments.
  I wrote this bipartisan resolution with the direct assistance of the 
Reverend Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association. And I re-
introduced it as H. Res. 15 on the first day of the 107th Congress.
  This issue is too important to let partisan politics get in the way, 
and I am happy that we are today considering a measure that reiterates 
the importance of our National Motto, and the presence of God in our 
lives.
  Let's adopt an ``In God We Trust'' resolution today--for our families 
and for our nation.
  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the Senate bill, S. 2690, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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