What does one nation under god represent?

Answer 1

"One nation under God" represents the persistent and ever-present intrusion by religious based groups into the United States government.

Many people are confused by those words in the Pledge of Allegiance and that's understandable. However, it's not so confusing when you remind yourself that we have a secular government in the United States even though persistent religionists have attempted for centuries to inject God into our government by adding religious symbols to government buildings and religious phrases to our coins, currency, pledges and oaths. The US Constitution guarantees freedom from a government sponsored religion.

The Pledge of Allegiance was adopted by the United States Congress in 1942 and was originally written by Francis Bellamy in 1896. Bellamy was a socialist. The phrase, "One nation under God" was added to the pledge by a joint resolution of Congress in 1954 after successful lobbying efforts by George MacPherson Docherty, a Presbyterian pastor in New York who impressed President Eisenhower. Many objections have been raised ever since and the pledge remains controversial with many citizens choosing to remain seated during its recitation. Requiring students to recite the pledge has been ruled unconstitutional in Florida and a Maryland school district had to pay damages to a student. Other courts have ruled it is not a violation of the separation of church and state although those decisions are mind boggling to those who revere that separation. Some school systems encourage students to recite the pledge and as many do not.