Quotes from One Nation Under God How
Corporate America Invented Christian America by Kevin M. Kruse
1929 Great Depression to 1939
1942 “At First Congregational and
elsewhere, the minster (James Fifield) reached out warmly to the wealthy,
assuring them that their worldly success was a sign of God’s blessings and
brushing off the criticism of clergymen who disagreed.” “Much like the
millionaires to whom he ministered, Fifield had watched in alarm as Roosevelt
convinced vast majorities of Americans that unfettered capitalism had crippled
the nation and that the federal government now needed to play an important new
role in regulating the free market’s risks and redistributing its rewards.”
“Fifield won a number of powerful new
patrons (in December 1944), but none more important-not simply in terms of
supporting Spiritual Mobilization financially but also in shaping its growth
and effectiveness-than J. Howard Pew Jr., president of Sun Oil.”
1948 “Fifield confided, “because it is
obvious that the battle to collectivize America is really on, and on and on in
earnest since the announcement of President Truman’s legislative program.” Pew
wholeheartedly agreed, “According to my book there are five principal issues
before the country: The socialization of industry, the socialization of
medicine, the socialization of education, the socialization of labor, and the
socialization of security,” he noted. “Only
through education and the pressure which the people exert on their politicians
can we hope to prevent this country from becoming a totalitarian state.”
1949 Billy Graham “Communism has
decided against God, against Christ, against the Bible, and against all
religion. Communism is not only an
economic interpretation of life-communism is a religion that is inspired,
directed, and motivated by the Devil himself who has declared war against
Almighty God.”
1950 “More than any other individual,
Senator Frank Carlson deserved credit for creating the National Prayer
Breakfast.” “He denounced Franklin Roosevelt as the ‘destroyer of human rights
and freedom” for his administration’s interventions in the economy.”
1951 “To mark the 175th anniversary
of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, they proposed for the week
surrounding the Fourth of July a massive series of events devoted to the theme
of “Freedom Under God.”
1952, Billy Graham, “The Garden of
Eden was a paradise of ‘no union does, no labor leaders, no snakes, no disease.’ The truly Christian worker ‘would not stoop
to take unfair advantage’ of his employer by ganging up against him in a union.”
1952 The presidential campaign for
Eisenhower “Spiritual Mobilization’s Faith
and Freedom published a manifesto, titled “The Christian’s Political
Responsibility.” “If a (law or
candidate) proposes to take the property or income of some for the special
benefit of others, does it violate the Commandment: ‘Thou shall not steal’? If it appeals to the voting power of special
interest groups, or to those who have less than others, does it violate the
Commandment: ‘Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house’?”
[See The Credo of the American Way of
Life] After Eisenhower, religion would
no longer be used to tear down the central state but instead to prop it
up. Piety and patriotism became one and
the same, love of God and love of country conflated to the core.
1953 “Eisenhower took part in a
signing ceremony for a religious manifesto that organizers called the ‘Statement
of Seven Divine Freedoms.” These were
meant to “trump the human freedoms that Roosevelt had enumerated.”
1954 May 17th, McCarthyism’s
climactic battled abruptly halted. Brown v. Board of Education decision was
announced. Little noticed in Room 424 of
the Senate Office Building, where a subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee sat
to consider a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States. If passed, it would have declared, “This
Nation devoutly recognizes the authority and law of Jesus Christ, Saviour and
Ruler of nations through whom are bestowed the blessings of Almighty God.”
Francis Bellamy wrote the pledge in
the 1890’s, “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it
stands-one Nation indivisible-with Liberty and Justice for all.” The Christian libertarian movement of “under-God
consciousness” swept the nation in the early 1950’s, a campaign to add the
phrase began in earnest.”
“The mint offered several suggestions,
but Chase ultimately selected “In God We Trust” and lobbied for legislation
authorizing the new slogan. It soon
appeared, on bronze two cent pieces in 1864.”
In 1883 the motto was removed from the nickel and would not return for
another fifty-five years.” In 1907,
Theodore Roosevelt, “My own firm conviction is that a motto on coins not only
does no good, but positive harm and is in effect, irreverence, which comes
close to sacrilege.” In 1952, Ernest Kehr came up with the idea of creating new
postage bearing the phrase. “On its
first day of availability, nearly nine hundred thousand stamps were sold;
within weeks, twenty-five million more were distributed to post offices across
the country to answer the still growing demand.”
1957 “Churches are beginning to
advertise their product and the result is that they are selling it.” |The ‘Religion
in American Life’ campaign permeated every space in the United States.
1964 “One Nation Under God” banners
began spreading across the New Jersey suburbs, appearing on flagpoles at
borough halls, municipal offices, city parks, and public schools in sixty
towns. Council president Joseph
Rzigalinski said, “It’s a good way of combating the Supreme Court decision
barring prayer in the public schools.” The
phrase was being used to promote not just the original cause of school prayer
but a host of other issues dear to conservatives. As American involvement in Vietnam escalated,
pro-war hawks increasingly employed the phrase both to show support for the war
and to silence its critics. Political
observers began to speak about an emerging “Silent Majority” of ordinary
Americans who rejected the liberal movements of the ear, especially the
protests against the Vietnam War, but who had not yet made their opposition
known.
When the Cold War era’s religious nationalism
took root during Dwight Eisenhower’s administration, Richard Nixon his vice
president and his favorite preacher Billy Graham had been key agents in the
change from the first inaugural prayer and first presidential prayer breakfast,
through the adoption of the mottos “one nation under God” and “In God We Trust,”
and on the era’s wider embrace of religion in industry, advertising, and
entertainment. They understood the
political power of public displays of faith, and, more important, the price of
its absence. Graham’s influence in the
Nixon Whitehouse was profound. William
Martin observed, “but none made such a conscious, calculating use of religion
as a political instrument as did Richard Nixon.” A prayer attributed to George Washington,
evoked conservative complaints about antiwar protesters, asking God to inspire
in the citizenry ‘a spirit of subordination and obedience of government.”
1984 As Reagan planned his reelection
campaign, he knew that emphasizing social issues might keep the religious right
on board, since it had hopes of finishing the crusade it began four years
before. Notably the seventy-three year
old Regan announced his plan to run for a second term, just minutes before
giving a televised address to the National Association of Religious Broadcasters. The president invoked God two dozen times in
the speech and proclaimed to cheers that he wore the ACLU’s criticism of his
proclamation making 1983 the ‘Year of the Bible’ as a ‘badge of honor.’ The purpose of it all, a GOP strategist
explained at the time, was to ‘energize our base with the religious right.” Speaking
at length about the Supreme Court’s ruling against state-mandated school prayer
and programs of Bible reading, he claimed they had represented an important
turning point in the nation’s history.
They set a dangerous precedent, inspiring more lawsuits to remove the
words “under God” from the pledge or “In God We Trust” from U.S. currency and
promoting secularism. Liberals said they
challenged such religious mottos in the spirit of tolerance of all faiths, but
he president scoffed at their claims. “Isn’t
the real truth that they are intolerant of religion?” he asked. “They refuse to tolerate its importance in
our lives.” At the close of his speech,
Regan delivered a line that would be cited repeatedly by conservatives in the
days and, indeed, decades to come: “If we ever forget that we’re one nation
under God, then we’ll be a nation gone under.”
1986 George H. Bush, “The strength of
our nation is our faith, we do believe that when all is said and done that we
are indeed a nation under God.” Bob
Dole, “Freedom is a gift from God, not government.” Jack Kemp, “one of the reasons I’m running
for president is because I believe I have an obligation as a Christian to be
involved in politics.”
1988 At this the Superdome crowd rose
to its feet, waving a sea of American flags, and joined their nominee (George
H. Bush) in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
At the end added “God bless you” before the delegates erupted in
applause. Much as Regan used school
prayer as a partisan issue, Bush used the pledge. His opponent Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis
vetoed a bill in 1977 that would have fined public school teachers who refused
to lead classes in the pledge, after the state’s highest court suggested that
he bill was unconstitutional. “While
legal experts agreed that the Democrat’s position was wholly correct, the
public was not persuaded, ‘He captured the hearts of 17 lawyers and lost 3
million votes.” Bush used the pledge and
other wedge issues to surge ahead after the conventions. He never looked back.
1992 At the Republican National
Convention, the Christian Coalition Members added to the party platform
references to ‘our country’s Judeo-Christian heritage” and a call for the
required recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools ‘as a
reminder of the principles that sustain us as one Nation under God.” Bill Clinton the Democratic nominee made
liberal use of religious references in his acceptance speech at the convention,
citing Scripture, referring to God, even reciting that key passage of the
Pledge of Allegiance.” Clinton made it
clear that the politics of piety and patriotism would no longer be confined to
the Republican Party. As president,
Clinton applied the same soft religiosity to national political life. He faithfully participated in the National
Prayer Breakfasts, as his Republican predecessors, but unlike them, he used the
events not to advance a legislative agenda but rather to shield himself from
criticism.
2001 George W Bush, a born-again
Christian shared Clinton’s ability to discuss his faith openly. “Church and charity, synagogue and mosque
lend our communities their humanity, and they will have an honored place in our
plans and in our laws.” Soon after 9/11
he made a special trip to the Islamic Center of Washington, Bush denounced
recent acts of violence against Muslims and Arab Americans in no uncertain
terms. “Those who feel like they can
intimidate our fellow citizens to take out their anger don’t represent the best
of America, they represent the worst of humankind and should be ashamed.”
2002, A federal court ruled that the
phrase ‘one nation under God’ violated the First Amendment prohibition against
the establishment of a state religion.
In a 2 to 1 decision, the court agreed that the phrase was just as
objectionable as a statement that ‘we are a nation under Jesus, a nation under
Vishnu, a nation under Zeus, or a nation under no god, because none of these
professions can be neutral with respect to religion.” The reaction from
political leaders was swift. The Senate
suspended debate on a pending military spending bill to draft a resolution
condemning the ruling, while dozens of House members took to the Capitol steps
to recite the pledge and sing “God Bless America.” In June 2004, the Supreme Court ruled that
Newdow technically lacked standing to bring the suit and thus dismissed the
lower court’s ruling, dodging the issue for the time being.
2004, Republican strategist Karl Rove
advocated a play-to-the-base plan to exploit the concerns of the religious
right for electoral gain. The president
passed two major pieces of pro-life legislation and then joined the campaign
for a Federal Marriage Amendment to ban homosexual unions. At John Kerry’s Democratic nomination, Barack
Obama introduced himself to the country with a stirring speech that emphasized
religious values as a source of national unity.
“We worship an ‘awesome God’ in blue states. We are one people, all of us pledging
allegiance to the Stars and Stripes, all of us defending the United States of
America. I am my brother’s keeper; I am
my sister’s keeper. The audacity of
hope, in the end is God’s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation. God bless you.”
“As these religious notes have been
drummed into the national consciousness, almost by rote, we have forgotten
their origins. More than that, we have
forgotten they have origins at all.” “The
rites of our public recognition of religion originated not in a spiritual
crises, but rather in the political and economic turmoil of the Great
Depression. The story of business leaders
enlisting clergymen in their war against the New Deal is one that has been
largely obscured by the very ideology that resulted from it.”
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