DNC delegates drop ‘under God’ from Pledge of Allegiance

At least two caucus meetings at this week’s Democratic National Convention began with recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance that omitted the phrase “under God.”

Two videos posted online — one of the person kicking off a Muslim meeting, and the other starting an LGBT meeting — showed the Pledge being recited incompletely.

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands. One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” delegate A.J. Durrani said at the start of the DNC’s “Muslim Delegates and Allies Assembly.”

Among the people who attended the Muslim assembly, according to David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network, were Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Rashida Tlaib and DNC Chairman Tom Perez.

Mr. Brody posted both videos on Twitter on Wednesday, the second of which featured an unnamed person beginning the gay assembly.

In that video, the pause surrounding the part of the Pledge that includes the phrase “under God” is much longer and more deliberate than in Mr. Durrani’s recitation.

Mr. Brody’s posting of the video earned jeers from liberals and Democrats who said they were fine with not saying “under God” during the pledge.

“‘Under God’ is a McCarthyite addition to the Pledge and its inclusion is offensive to, among others, Orthodox Jews, Atheists, some Christian sects, some Muslims, and polytheists. It was deliberately inserted into the Pledge to offend at least one of those groups and likely more,” claimed one Twitter user.

Another added, “Good. I always leave out that part anyway. It’s nonsense.”

The phrase was not part of the Pledge when Congress first officially codified it in 1942 (it dates back in various forms to 1906). It was added in 1954 under a bill signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

“From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural school house, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty … In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource, in peace or in war,” Eisenhower wrote.

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