U.S. government references to God OK with many Americans

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore’s continued refusals to remove a Ten Commandments display in the rotunda of the state’s judicial building has sparked debates across the country about whether such a display is constitutional.

A recent survey jointly commissioned by the First Amendment Center and the American Journalism Review, found that a majority of Americans agree with Moore’s stance.

The “State of the First Amendment 2003” survey, released Aug. 1, found that more than 60 percent of Americans think government officials should be able to post the Ten Commandments in government buildings and believe it is constitutional for teachers to lead the recitation of “one nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Sixty-eight percent of respondents said teachers leading the pledge with the words “one nation under God” were not violating the principle of separation of church and state, while 26 percent said they were.

Sixty-two percent of those surveyed agreed that government officials should be allowed to post the Ten Commandments within government buildings, while 35 percent said they should not.

Context matters

“Do these responses reflect a trust in government not to go beyond symbolic references to faith?” Kenneth A. Paulson, executive director of the First Amendment Center in Nashville asked in a foreword to the 41-page study. “Or do the results reflect a majority who are receptive to seeing their own beliefs cited on government walls and in ceremonial references?

“The answers may lie in how Americans view God in the context of government activities,” Paulson said. “Most of those surveyed regarded government references to God as civic rather than spiritual.”

He said 73 percent of respondents said the pledge, including the words “one nation under God,” is “primarily a statement related to the American political tradition,” while 18 percent said it was primarily a religious statement.

The Center for Survey Research & Analysis at the University of Connecticut surveyed 1,000 Americans during June 3–15.

The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.   (RNS)