Overview
The original Pledge, as written by Baptist minister Francis Bellamy in 1892, read:
“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
At a National Flag Conference in 1924, the leadership of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution changed the words “my Flag” to “the Flag of the United States of America.”
From 1924 through 1954, the Pledge read:
“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.”
In 1954, during the McCarthy era and Cold War “red scare” of communism, a bill was passed by Congress, and was signed into law, adding the words “under God” to the Pledge:
The Pledge currently reads:
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands; one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Thus, a secular and all-inclusive Pledge was replaced by a religious and exclusive Pledge, dividing the “indivisible” and not providing “justice for all.”
For more information:
Circuit court decision, reactions, etc.