The Hijacking of the Pledge of Allegiance

This article in Slate by David Greenberg is an informative overview of how the Pledge of Allegiance was fundamentally changed in the 1950s from its secular nature to, in President Eisenhower's words, "the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty."  Against a backdrop of the communist menace, a movement materialized that swept aside the Founding Fathers' intent not to institutionalize religion in government.  By 1954, Congress fell over themselves to insert "under God" in the Pledge.  1955 saw the insertion of "In God We Trust" on all paper money, and the same four words replaced E Pluribus Unum as the national motto in 1956.  The current rush to theocracy among way too many on the political right had its seeds sown in the 1950s where "under God" was stuck into the Pledge to oppose what communism stood for -- not because communism was totalitarian, but because it was atheist.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history_lesson/2002/06/the_pledge_of_allegiance.single.html