Legal Commentary

I have been thinking quite a bit lately about what is sometimes referred to as ?ceremonial deism? ? relatively anodyne or ritualistic invocations of God in contexts like the National Motto on coins, ?God save this honorable Court,? etc. Whether nonsectarian but monotheistic invocations of God by the government should be constitutionally permissible is, it seems to me, a valid question. In favor of their constitutionality, some have argued that such invocations are permitted because our history and the original intent of the Framers validate them, or because they simply acknowledge the beliefs of the overwhelming majority of our population who subscribe to one of the great monotheistic faiths ? Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

Now, I personally don?t completely buy these arguments, but more fundamentally, I think there is a point that often gets brushed over when they are debated: namely, whether monotheistic invocations such ?in God We Trust? on currency or ?under God? in the Pledge of Allegiance, for example, are truly nondenominational. Those phrases may not be an obvious or direct endorsement of any one religion or group of religions, such as Christianity. But I do think that such phrases are understood by many non-Christians as invoking a particular God, and most likely a Christian God. After all, our currency does not say ?In Allah We Trust,? and there would most likely be quite a reaction among the US population if suddenly it did. This is not to suggest that the Muslim God is in some meaningful way a different God from the Christian God. But considering the phrases ?In God We Trust? and ?In Allah We Trust? side by side demonstrates that even the word ?God? cannot be understood as completely neutral among religions ? for many, it invokes a specifically Christian God. Or, to take another example, it?s my understanding that orthodox Jews are not to say or write the name of God, so as to avoid the risk of using the name in a disrespectful or improper way ? thus, some Jews write the name as G-d. Again, against this backdrop, it is hard to see how using the word God, written g-o-d, is not colored by any particular denominational preference.

Am I wrong?