As an agnostic, living life without practicing religion, I strongly support retention of all references to God found in governmental, legal and patriotic undertakings. The United States of America is a unique and wonderful organism arising out of Western culture with a Judeo-Christian outlook. It could never have been conceived from Islamic or an Eastern culture or religion.
The extraordinary people who fathered this country were morally and ethically informed by Judeo-Christian beliefs affirmed in writing the Declaration of Independence and Constitution and embodied in our law and government. These constructions express a profound respect for the individual and collective humanity of our citizens that could not arise from a purely secular world.
Whether or not God exists, I am not the least embarrassed to invoke “God Bless America” because it imparts a depth to my feeling that is foreign to secularism.
