The First Amendment of the United States Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”. This is known as the Establishment Clause.
The First Amendment also protects the free exercise of religion, freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and the right to petition the government.
The U.S. Supreme Court has established a three-part test to determine if a law constitutes an establishment of religion:
- The law’s primary purpose must be secular.
- The law must not promote or inhibit religion.
- There must not be excessive entanglement between church and state.
Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, is credited with popularizing the idea of a separation between church and state. He believed that government involvement in the church would corrupt it.
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Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:– I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Article 2 Section 1 Clause 8 | Constitution Annotated Congress.gov
https://constitution.congress.gov
“With Liberty and Justice For All.”
On June 14, 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower signed a bill to insert the phrase “under God” into the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance that children recited every morning in school. Previously, the pledge—originally written in 1892—had contained no reference to religion.
The push to add “under God” to the pledge gained momentum during the second Red Scare, a period when U.S. politicians were keen to assert the moral superiority of U.S. capitalism over Soviet communism, which many conservatives regarded as “godless.”
Court cases about whether students should recite the pledge had already reached the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1940s, before “under God” was added. In the decades after the 1954 addition, there were numerous other lawsuits related to the pledge.
https://www.history.com/news/pledge-allegiance-under-god-schools