Under God

On the first Monday in October, the United States Supreme Court opens its new term. This year, the court has a new face for the first time in over a decade, as the President’s choice for Chief Justice, John Roberts, was just sworn in. Before the week is out, President Bush will have made another nomination to the Supreme Court to replace retiring justice Sandra Day O’Connor. With important cases facing the court this term, including some key decisions regarding partial-birth abortion, Bush’s nominations are critical.

One case sure to come before the court has to do with the Pledge of Allegiance and the phrase “under God.” A year ago, atheist Michael Newdow sued to have the offending phrase removed on the grounds that it constituted the establishment of religion and therefore violated the First Amendment. At the time, the court refused to hear the case because Newdow had no standing to sue on behalf of his daughter, because he was not her custodial parent. This merely sidestepped the issue, since the Supreme Court avoided hearing the case on its merits. But Newdow found allies in the same California locale, and the District court of Sacramento has ruled, as the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had done beforehand, that the recitation of the pledge with “under God” is, in fact, an establishment of religion, and must be banned from public schools.

Recent polls suggest that over 90% of Americans do not see the voluntary recitation of the pledge with the words “under God” included as an unconstitutional establishment of religion. They say that the word “God” does not establish one religion over another, since all religions claim to worship a deity. Opponents argue that only Christians refer to God as “God,” that Muslims call him “Allah” and Jews “Adonai Elohenu.”

Constitutionally, the fact that no one can coerce school children to say the pledge of allegiance certainly argues for the status quo to be upheld. Religious groups such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses have long been conscientious objectors to the concept of pledging allegiance to a flag or a nation instead of to Jehovah God alone. Those who do not wish to participate do not have to do so. And, putting the First Amendment and its establishment clause into historical context, the framers wished to prevent the government from having a particular church, like the church of England, favored and supported by tax dollars. It is unreasonable to suggest that they were advocating the complete removal of any mention of God’s name from public life, a situation some extreme atheists (and their legal advocates in the ACLU) seem to insist on forcing upon America.

From a Biblical standpoint, there is nothing objectionable to a Christian citizen pledging allegiance to the nation or to the flag, the symbol of the republic. Nowhere does the pledge imply that this is a citizen’s highest allegiance. From Acts 5:29, where the apostles declared, “We must obey God rather than men,” we know that only in those rare situations where the laws of men conflict with the laws of God must we practice civil disobedience, even if it were to require time in prison. After all, the authorities tried to prevent the apostles from proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus. They refused, and found themselves jailed for it. Christians can be truly thankful for the first amendment, which not only prevents Congress from passing laws establishing religion, but also prohibits them from passing ones that prohibit the free exercise of our faith.

However, the idea that “God” is not religion-specific is more troublesome. If this were a prayer, and we were in a group of students that included Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, and Christians, and we all prayed together, it would be offensive to the true God. Jesus said, “Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you.” Prayers that are not offered “in Jesus’ name,” are not worship of the true God. And “in Jesus’ name” does not simply mean you recite that phrase as if it were an incantation or a mantra, it means that you pray as a believer in Jesus, recognizing that only through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus do you, as a sinful human being, have access to God’s presence through prayer.

This past week we have heard reports on Hinduism and Judaism. There are adherents of both religions who claim that there is no difference between their faith and the beliefs of Christians. Hinduism, as we have studied, has a history of adaptation and absorbing of other religions into itself. George Harrison of the Beatles wrote “My Sweet Lord” with the clear intention of juxtaposing the Judeo-Christian word of praise “Hallelujah” with the words “Hare Krishna,” thereby inferring that the two were identical. And it is almost taken for granted and assumed that “Jews and Christians worship the same God” because we both have the Old Testament and worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Consider, however, Jesus’ dealings with the Jews of his day. He told them in John 5:23, “He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” This apostle also wrote by inspiration, “No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also (I John 2:23).” Simply put, because Jews (and by this is obviously not meant the ethnic or racial Jew who believes in Jesus) reject Jesus and his divinity, and reject the Trinity, they do not worship the same God as Christians.

There is and always has been only one God and one way to heaven. Jesus said “I am the way (not “a” way), the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6).” Those pious and faithful Jews who lived prior to Jesus’ coming in the flesh were saved by faith in the promises of the Savior even as you and I are saved by faith in those same promises. As Paul put it in Romans 4:1-2, “If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” The true children of Abraham are those who believe as Abraham did. And, as Paul wrote to the Galatians, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for as many of you as are baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free, for you are all one in Christ Jesus our Lord (3:26-27).”

On another occasion, this blog will consider the issue of the land of Israel, today’s modern nation-state of Israel, and whether it has any bearing on the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. Use the comments to talk about the Supreme Court, the pledge of allegiance, the establishment clause, or anything addressed above.