ALEXANDRIA, Pa. (AP) — A church official says the clergyman credited with helping to push Congress to insert the phrase “under God” into the Pledge of Allegiance has died in Alexandria, Pa. The Rev. George M. Docherty was 97.
Nancy Taylor, historian for the Huntingdon Presbyterian Church, says Docherty died on Thanksgiving at his home in Alexandria, with his wife, Sue, by his side.
Docherty delivered a sermon saying the pledge should acknowledge God in 1952 at Washington’s New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, just blocks from the White House.
On Feb. 7, 1954, he delivered it again after learning that President Dwight Eisenhower would be at the church.
Congress inserted the words a few months later.
If only Eisenhower had gone somewhere else.. walked his dog or something .. maybe the U.S. wouldn’t be so close to theocracy now.
November 29, 2008 at 9:41 pm
We are close to a theocracy?
I’d be interested in just how it is you come to that.
November 30, 2008 at 6:42 am
A few things led to that off-the-cuff remark. My election coverage was heavily biased. I read a lot of atheist/humanist perspective blogs and all of them were concerned about the religious overtones during the run-up to the election. They were linking to articles that reflected that concern.
Articles about Sarah Palin’s church and what its main beliefs were – her beliefs that Armageddon would happen in her lifetime was one of them, as was her getting blessed by some witch doctor dude. Articles quoting people and polls that declared they’d never let an atheist win the White House. Religious groups pushing political agendas like the business surrounding Proposition 8 in California, and winning. News reports on Texas and Kentucky (for example) where Creationism and Intelligent Design are making inroads. Stories like the pastor who wouldn’t take down his church sign stating that Obama was a Muslim and the strange insistence that he could be the anti-Christ, even though Tim LaHaye thinks it’s far more likely to be someone from Romania or some other obscure place (He’s actually said that). All those groups appalled by a billboard simply reading “Imagine No Religion” and demand its removal and win — and that kerfluffle over the Washington buses – “Be Good for Goodness Sake” – ad campaign. Somehow, in some way, that sentiment in incredibly offensive.
Articles that expressed concern over the fact that Obama hasn’t picked a new church and didn’t actually attend one some Sunday, doing something else with his family instead.
Recently there was news from Kentucky about some law on the books that insists that God needs to get the credit for saving that state from terrorists.
There’s also something called the Pledge Project, a group trying to get “Under God” taken out because it never should have been put in there in the first place. A lot of Americans are under the false assumption that it’s been there since the Allegiance was first scratched onto parchment.
I know that vocal atheists are a very small minority. I know many more people might consider themselves to be but are afraid to admit it publicly because they don’t want to be treated like lepers by their families and peers.
I know what a theocracy is and it just seemed to me that a lot of people in the United States were pushing to live in a country where God got the ultimate say on everything. Most atheists are glad Obama got in because whatever belief system he’s got, he’s still looking at improving the country and improving the rights of the people in that country – including a woman’s right to having an abortion should she so choose. A lot of religious groups are upset about his stance on that. What if McCain had won and then died soon after? What kind of President would Sarah Palin have become? It’s a moot point now – she certainly demonstrated how ill-prepared she was for the role of VP.
I hope that answers your question.