Jim Sensenbrenner: “Mr. Chairman, the Pledge of Allegiance reads: ``I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to…”

“Mr. Chairman, the Pledge of Allegiance reads: ``I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stand, one Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.'' Two words in the Pledge, ``under God,'' help define our national heritage as beneficiaries of a Constitution sent to the States for ratification, as the Constitution itself states, ``in the Year of our Lord,'' 1787, by a founding generation that saw itself guided by a providential God. Those two words, and their entirely proper presence in the system of government defined by our Constitution, have been repeatedly and overwhelmingly reaffirmed by the House of Representatives, most recently twice in the 107th Congress, by votes of 416 to 3 and 401 to 5, and in this Congress by a vote of 400 to 7. The first Congress not only acknowledged a proper role for religion in public life, but it did so at the very time it drafted the Establishment Clause of the first amendment.”