Christopher Shays: “I voted against H.R. 2028, the Pledge Protection Act. The phrase ``under God'' belongs in our Pledge of Allegiance to…”

“I voted against H.R. 2028, the Pledge Protection Act. The phrase ``under God'' belongs in our Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and the words ``In God We Trust'' belong on our currency. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals made a serious error in Newdow v. U.S. Congress when they declared our Pledge unconstitutional. When the phrase ``under God'' was added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, I was in elementary school and remember feeling the phrase belonged there. It appropriately reflects the fact that a belief in God motivated the founding and development of our great Nation. The Declaration of Independence states, ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights . . .'' Our forefathers understood it was not they, but He, who had bestowed upon all of us those most cherished rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness upon which our model of government is based. At Gettysburg, President Abraham Lincoln acknowledged we were a Nation under God and, during his Second Inaugural Address, he mentioned our Creator 13 times. Those historic speeches, the Pledge of Allegiance, our currency and the Declaration of Independence are not prayers or parts of a religious service. They are a statement of our commitment as citizens to our great Nation and the role God plays in it.”