Jim Sensenbrenner: “Mr. Speaker, Senate 2690 would amend section 4 of title 4 of the U.S. Code to reaffirm the text of the Pledge of…”

“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.”