PUBLIC LAW 107–293—NOV. 13, 2002 116 STAT. 2057

Public Law 107–293

107th Congress

An Act

To reaffirm the reference to one Nation under God in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:

(1) On November 11, 1620, prior to embarking for the

shores of America, the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact

that declared: ‘‘Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and

the advancement of the Christian Faith and honor of our King

and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern

parts of Virginia,’’.

(2) On July 4, 1776, America’s Founding Fathers, after

appealing to the ‘‘Laws of Nature, and of Nature’s God’’ to

justify their separation from Great Britain, then declared: ‘‘We

hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created

equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain

unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and

the Pursuit of Happiness’’.

(3) In 1781, Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration

of Independence and later the Nation’s third President, in

his work titled ‘‘Notes on the State of Virginia’’ wrote: ‘‘God

who gave us life gave us liberty. And 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. That they are not to be violated

but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when

I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.’’.

(4) On May 14, 1787, George Washington, as President

of the Constitutional Convention, rose to admonish and exhort

the delegates and declared: ‘‘If to please the people we offer

what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward defend

our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and

the honest can repair; the event is in the hand of God!’’.

(5) On July 21, 1789, on the same day that it approved

the Establishment Clause concerning religion, the First Congress of the United States also passed the Northwest Ordinance,

providing for a territorial government for lands northwest of

the Ohio River, which declared: ‘‘Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness

of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever

be encouraged.’’.

(6) On September 25, 1789, the First Congress unanimously

approved a resolution calling on President George Washington

4 USC 4 note.

Nov. 13, 2002

[S. 2690]

116 STAT. 2058 PUBLIC LAW 107–293—NOV. 13, 2002

to proclaim a National Day of Thanksgiving for the people

of the United States by declaring, ‘‘a day of public thanksgiving

and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful

hearts, the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially

by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a constitution of government for their safety and happiness.’’.

(7) On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln

delivered his Gettysburg Address on the site of the battle

and declared: ‘‘It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the

great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead

we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave

the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve

that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this Nation,

under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not

perish from the earth.’’.

(8) On April 28, 1952, in the decision of the Supreme

Court of the United States in Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S.

306 (1952), in which school children were allowed to be excused

from public schools for religious observances and education,

Justice William O. Douglas, in writing for the Court stated:

‘‘The First Amendment, however, does not say that in every

and all respects there shall be a separation of Church and

State. Rather, it studiously defines the manner, the specific

ways, in which there shall be no concern or union or dependency

one on the other. That is the common sense of the matter.

Otherwise the State and religion would be aliens to each other—

hostile, suspicious, and even unfriendly. Churches could not

be required to pay even property taxes. Municipalities would

not be permitted to render police or fire protection to religious

groups. Policemen who helped parishioners into their places

of worship would violate the Constitution. Prayers in our legislative halls; the appeals to the Almighty in the messages of

the Chief Executive; the proclamations making Thanksgiving

Day a holiday; ‘so help me God’ in our courtroom oaths—

these and all other references to the Almighty that run through

our laws, our public rituals, our ceremonies would be flouting

the First Amendment. A fastidious atheist or agnostic could

even object to the supplication with which the Court opens

each session: ‘God save the United States and this Honorable

Court.’ ’’.

(9) On June 15, 1954, Congress passed and President Eisenhower signed into law a statute that was clearly consistent

with the text and intent of the Constitution of the United

States, that amended the Pledge of Allegiance to read: ‘‘I pledge

allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and

to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God,

indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’’.

(10) On July 20, 1956, Congress proclaimed that the

national motto of the United States is ‘‘In God We Trust’’,

and that motto is inscribed above the main door of the Senate,

behind the Chair of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and on the currency of the United States.

(11) On June 17, 1963, in the decision of the Supreme

Court of the United States in Abington School District v.

Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963), in which compulsory school

prayer was held unconstitutional, Justices Goldberg and

PUBLIC LAW 107–293—NOV. 13, 2002 116 STAT. 2059

Harlan, concurring in the decision, stated: ‘‘But untutored devotion to the concept of neutrality can lead to invocation or

approval of results which partake not simply of that noninterference and noninvolvement with the religious which the Constitution commands, but of a brooding and pervasive devotion

to the secular and a passive, or even active, hostility to the

religious. Such results are not only not compelled by the Constitution, but, it seems to me, are prohibited by it. Neither

government nor this Court can or should ignore the significance

of the fact that a vast portion of our people believe in and

worship God and that many of our legal, political, and personal

values derive historically from religious teachings. Government

must inevitably take cognizance of the existence of religion

and, indeed, under certain circumstances the First Amendment

may require that it do so.’’.

(12) On March 5, 1984, in the decision of the Supreme

Court of the United States in Lynch v. Donelly, 465 U.S.

668 (1984), in which a city government’s display of a nativity

scene was held to be constitutional, Chief Justice Burger,

writing for the Court, stated: ‘‘There is an unbroken history

of official acknowledgment by all three branches of government

of the role of religion in American life from at least 1789

. . . [E]xamples of reference to our religious heritage are found

in the statutorily prescribed national motto ‘In God We Trust’

(36 U.S.C. 186), which Congress and the President mandated

for our currency, see (31 U.S.C. 5112(d)(1) (1982 ed.)), and

in the language ‘One Nation under God’, as part of the Pledge

of Allegiance to the American flag. That pledge is recited by

many thousands of public school children—and adults—every

year . . . Art galleries supported by public revenues display

religious paintings of the 15th and 16th centuries, predominantly inspired by one religious faith. The National Gallery

in Washington, maintained with Government support, for

example, has long exhibited masterpieces with religious messages, notably the Last Supper, and paintings depicting the

Birth of Christ, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection, among

many others with explicit Christian themes and messages. The

very chamber in which oral arguments on this case were heard

is decorated with a notable and permanent—not seasonal—

symbol of religion: Moses with the Ten Commandments. Congress has long provided chapels in the Capitol for religious

worship and meditation.’’.

(13) On June 4, 1985, in the decision of the Supreme

Court of the United States in Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S.

38 (1985), in which a mandatory moment of silence to be

used for meditation or voluntary prayer was held unconstitutional, Justice O’Connor, concurring in the judgment and

addressing the contention that the Court’s holding would render

the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional because Congress

amended it in 1954 to add the words ‘‘under God,’’ stated

‘‘In my view, the words ‘under God’ in the Pledge, as codified

at (36 U.S.C. 172), serve as an acknowledgment of religion

with ‘the legitimate secular purposes of solemnizing public occasions, [and] expressing confidence in the future.’ ’’.

(14) On November 20, 1992, the United States Court of

Appeals for the 7th Circuit, in Sherman v. Community Consolidated School District 21, 980 F.2d 437 (7th Cir. 1992), held

116 STAT. 2060 PUBLIC LAW 107–293—NOV. 13, 2002

that a school district’s policy for voluntary recitation of the

Pledge of Allegiance including the words ‘‘under God’’ was

constitutional.

(15) The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals erroneously held,

in Newdow v. U.S. Congress (9th Cir. June 26, 2002), that

the Pledge of Allegiance’s use of the express religious reference

‘‘under God’’ violates the First Amendment to the Constitution,

and that, therefore, a school district’s policy and practice of

teacher-led voluntary recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance

is unconstitutional.

(16) The erroneous rationale of the 9th Circuit Court of

Appeals in Newdow would lead to the absurd result that the

Constitution’s use of the express religious reference ‘‘Year of

our Lord’’ in Article VII violates the First Amendment to the

Constitution, and that, therefore, a school district’s policy and

practice of teacher-led voluntary recitations of the Constitution

itself would be unconstitutional.

SEC. 2. ONE NATION UNDER GOD.

(a) REAFFIRMATION.—Section 4 of title 4, United States Code,

is amended to read as follows:

‘‘§ 4. Pledge of allegiance to the flag; manner of delivery

‘‘The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag: ‘I pledge allegiance

to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic

for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty

and justice for all.’, should be rendered by standing at attention

facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. When not

in uniform men should remove any non-religious headdress with

their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being

over the heart. Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the

flag, and render the military salute.’’.

(b) CODIFICATION.—In codifying this subsection, the Office of

the Law Revision Counsel shall show in the historical and statutory

notes that the 107th Congress reaffirmed the exact language that

has appeared in the Pledge for decades.

SEC. 3. REAFFIRMING THAT GOD REMAINS IN OUR MOTTO.

(a) REAFFIRMATION.—Section 302 of title 36, United States

Code, is amended to read as follows:

4 USC 4 note.

PUBLIC LAW 107–293—NOV. 13, 2002 116 STAT. 2061

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 2690:

HOUSE REPORTS: No. 107–659 (Comm. on the Judiciary).

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 148 (2002):

June 27, considered and passed Senate.

Oct. 7, 8, considered and passed House, amended.

Oct. 17, Senate concurred in House amendment.

Æ

‘‘§ 302. National motto

‘‘ ‘In God we trust’ is the national motto.’’.

(b) CODIFICATION.—In codifying this subsection, the Office of

the Law Revision Counsel shall make no change in section 302,

title 36, United States Code, but shall show in the historical and

statutory notes that the 107th Congress reaffirmed the exact language that has appeared in the Motto for decades.

Approved November 13, 2002.