Under God

One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Instead of tossing a dignified clerical hat into the air at Congress' decision to insert the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance to the Flag (TIME, May 17), the Episcopal Living Church this week confined itself to a stern little sermon on its meaning: "

The invocation of the Almighty . . . is a serious business. God is not easily flattered, and we suspect that His interest in this reference to Him is conditioned strictly [by] the extent to which our national decisions and policies and actions are 'under God' . . .

"So let us not understand 'under God' as a declaration of national righteousness.

Let us rather understand it as an admission of national imperfection and incompleteness. It is a declaration of internationalism because we know that God loves all men impartially; a confession of sin because we know that only Christ is without sin; a cry of weakness because we know that our nation is not spiritually strong enough to die redemptively; and, withal, a declaration of trust and hope because we believe that (since Christ did die redemptively) God has a mission for us that is within our power to fulfill."

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