INJECTING A DEITY INTO THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE has proved central to the Christian nationalist narrative and identity. As with “In God We Trust,” the phrase’s history tells us more about Christian nationalism than about America’s founding, especially given the timing. As with “In God We Trust,” a unifying national maxim was made divisive. In this instance, rather than seeking to replace the unifying motto, the religious proponents drove a sectarian wedge into it. Prior to the change, the pledge glorified “one nation, indivisible,”44 an important theme for a nation that was still recovering
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