"GOD BLESS AMERICA." These words have been repeated millions of times since September 11. They have echoed in countless stadiums across the country, been sung by a bipartisan group of congressmen on the Capitol steps, appeared on hundreds of thousands of yard signs, bumper stickers, and billboards. And in Rocklin, California, they were posted on a sign outside Breen Elementary School.
The reaction of the American Civil Liberties Union was swift and predictable. In a letter to the school board the ACLU argued that the posting of "God Bless America" on a school marquee is unconstitutional, that the words convey "a hurtful, divisive message" to a group of "religiously pluralistic" students.
The school district held its ground. It cited a California Supreme Court decision declaring "God Bless America" to be a traditional, nonreligious, patriotic phrase. The dispiriting debate was thus joined. "God Bless America"--is it a "hurtful" and "divisive" form of hate speech, or a patriotic bromide, akin to cheering "Hooray for America"?
No one seemed interested in defending the obvious: that "God Bless America" is an invocation of divine aid and comfort, the need for which we feel with special urgency at a time of national agony and crisis. The entry of "God" into the public square, even in such seemingly benign and inoffensive form, is a positive evil in the eyes of the ACLU, and too impolitic to acknowledge in the view of the offending school board.
America's Founders, of course, would have taken a far different view of the debate over the
Rocklin case. Thomas Jefferson, on behalf of the school board, might well have argued that it is critical to affirm the link between God and the origin of American liberty--particularly for the benefit of the impressionable young minds at Breen Elementary School. In "Notes on the State of Virginia" in 1782, Jefferson wrote, "Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God?"
Through the centuries since, our presidents have understood that the bedrock of the American concept of democratic equality is this understanding that our rights come not from Washington but from the Creator. President George W. Bush placed himself squarely within this tradition in his inaugural address when he made what he described as a solemn pledge. He said, "I will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity. I know this is in our reach because we are guided by a power larger than ourselves who creates us equal in His image."
In the months since the terrorist attacks, the American people have begun to reevaluate the place of God in their lives. The Pew Research Center for the People and Press commissioned a study in mid-November that contained this remarkable finding: "Fully 78 percent now say religion's influence in American life is growing, up from 37 percent eight months ago, and the highest mark on this measure in surveys dating back four decades." In response to a horrific event fueled by religious fanaticism, in other words, the American people seem to be placing a renewed emphasis on the value of religion in their own lives.
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