By Ding Guevarra on February 28th, 2007
Dr. Michael Newdow, who continues to fight in court to outlaw the phrase “under God”, told the New York Times that he intended to “ferret out all insidious uses of religion in daily life”. This by the way is no indle threat. He meant it. While his case brought up in the Supreme Court did not result in the kind if decisions he likes, he nontheless “won” a similar lawsuit at the federal district court level and is now on appeal to the Ninth Circuit.
A far cry from him, the Founding Fathers, from the very birth of the United States, publicly acknowledged and invoked the assistance of the Almighty God as pivotal ang central to America’s birth and liberty for the infant nation.
We can read that George Washington, at his first inauguration on April 30, 1789, “put his right hand on the Bible…after taking the oath) adding…’so help me God’. He then bent forward and kissed the Bible before him”. In his remarks he said:
“It would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that ALMIGHTY BEING who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States, a government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instruments employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge… No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the INVISIBLE HAND which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States.”
You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspiciously commence.
Seven months later on October 3, 1789, in his Thanksgiving Proclamation, he said, “It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.”
No ! No thanks to Dr. Newdow! Even if some people of this nation doesn’t want any trace of God’s existancein this nation,the feeling of strong conviction about God even then, has been very strong. Published in 1835, Alexis de Tocqueville states, “I do not know whether ALL americans have a sincere faith in their religion, for who can read the human heart ? but I am certain that they hold it to be indespensable to the maintenance of republican institutions. This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or to a party, but it belongs to the whole nation and to every rank of society. ”
But, we may argue, America has changed significantly and is a very different nation today. Justice O’Connor reflected this thought in her earlier decision cited that the phrase “under God” was adopted in 1954 when “our national religious diversity was neither as robust nor as well recognized as it is now” Be as it may, the faith of this nation has been recorded from its infancy. Its not a waste of time to look back if merely for the sake of historical documentation. As trivial as it may sound, yet there is no argument that early on, our national leaders expressed their belief, trust, and confidence in one Almighty God, neatly embedded on their speeches.
Editors Note: Where is God in America? Part I can be found here.
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