Baptist views on the Pledge issue

The Associated Baptist Press News service is an independent Baptist group that generally reflects the outlook of the moderate Baptists who have split off from the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) over the last 10 years or so due to the SBC's hardline theological conservatism.

This article offers a moderate Baptist view and an SBC view of the Pledge of Allegiance case that the Supreme Court now has under review:

Many court observers believe the justices will reverse the 9th Circuit's decision. Previous court opinions have suggested that a category of generalized government religious endorsements, often called "ceremonial deism," does not violate the First Amendment because such pronouncements have little actual religious meaning. Such endorsements include phrases like the national motto, "In God We Trust," or the announcement that the Supreme Court itself uses when opening its sessions: "God save the United States and this honorable court." ...

However, the head of a Baptist church-state agency in Washington said that, although ceremonial deism may be legal, it isn't necessarily advisable for Christians to advocate.

"What is constitutional is not always helpful or conducive to a spirit of robust religious liberty," said Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs. "The vitality of religion in America is diminished by blurring the allegiance to government with our ultimate allegiance to God. Are we any more religious today than we were before 'under God' was put into the pledge in 1954?"

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, called the 9th Circuit Court's decision "outrageous even for the looniest of all the federal appeals courts in the land."

"If the Supreme Court were to uphold the 9th Circuit's ruling that the pledge is unconstitutional, it will have a full-scale revolt on its hands, which will in short order result in either a constitutional amendment or a removing of this area from the court's jurisdiction by Congress," Land said in a statement.

Ironically, until the 1960s, the SBC was a strong advocate of separation of church and state. Of course, in those days that mostly meant opposing public funding of Catholic schools.

Tags: associated baptist press, pledge of allegiance, southern baptists