Editor,
The Constitution was written to offer freedom to the people as well as protection from hurtful and harmful acts by people with the power to do so, whether elected or not.
The Constitution protects free speech - including the expression of the belief or the disbelief in God.
If the writers of the Pledge of Allegiance stated their belief that this nation is under God, what harm is there? None. If the potential revisionists of the pledge want to state that this nation is not under God, what harm is there? None.
If we argue that we must follow the letter of the Constitution, then impeding the freedom to express a belief or a disbelief in God as part of the pledge would be a violation of the letter.
Professing God neither creates God or a religion. If the people want to revise the pledge to state that this nation is not under God, then the people would have to do so as a communal decision and not as a legal consequence. The Constitution was neither written to promote nor to discourage free speech. It simply protects.
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Finally, I understand that God offered man a relationship but man offered God many religions. Professing "one nation under God" is a free expression of belief in a relationship and not about establishing religions. The writers of the pledge probably understood the same.
Koon Meng Chua
UNM faculty
