Starr’s Take on the Pledge of Allegiance

Re “ ‘Under God,’ and Under the Constitution,” Commentary, May 9: Beneath his reassuring patina of balance and evenhandedness, Kenneth Starr asserts the seriously unconstitutional proposition that we must recognize “God as the foundation of our governmental architecture.” Remarkably, Starr never acknowledges that the 1st Amendment begins by declaring that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” and that Article VI of the Constitution expressly provides that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”

Well aware of the long and bloody history of religious intolerance and persecution, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson firmly rejected the concept now held by Starr; instead they favored establishing a “wall of separation” that would keep government out of religion and religion out of government.

Stephen F. Rohde

Los Angeles

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The Pledge of Allegiance stopped representing our founding principles in 1954 when our nation kowtowed to McCarthyists with a midnight congressional session to include the phrase “under God” in the pledge. A 99-0 vote in the U.S. Senate today only proves one consensus: that proud, nontheistic U.S. citizens need not apply.

If every first-grader could recite Article VI of the Constitution: “ ... but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States,” we would have a citizenry informed by facts rather than sentiment, able to recognize Starr’s disingenuousness for what it is: faith-based discrimination.

Tobias Maxwell

North Hollywood

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I have a better idea than Starr’s suggestion that pledgers of allegiance remain silent rather than say “under God” if they object. Let’s remove “under God” from the pledge and have those who want to say it simply add it.

Maurice Segal

Sherman Oaks