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94:...I would suggest that such practices as the designation of "In God We Trust" as our national motto, or the references to God contained in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag can best be understood, in Dean Rostow's apt phrase, as a form a "ceremonial deism," protected from Establishment Clause scrutiny chiefly because they have lost through rote repetition any significant religious content.
129:", and the words with which the Marshal of this Court opens each of its sessions ("God save the United States and this honorable Court"). These references are not minor trespasses upon the Establishment Clause to which I turn a blind eye. Instead, their history, character, and context prevent them from being constitutional violations at all. [
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violations of the
Constitution – no constitutional harms so slight that the courts are obliged to ignore them. Given the values that the Establishment Clause was meant to serve, however, I believe that government can, in a discrete category of cases, acknowledge or refer to the divine without
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argues that reference to religion is not more likely to be harmless merely because it is "ceremonial." Used for the purpose of defending religious references by the government as harmless, he says the term "ceremonial deism" is grossly inaccurate and even dangerous, and argues that genuinely
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is a legal term used in the United States to designate governmental religious references and practices deemed to be mere cultural rituals and not inherently religious because of long customary usage. Proposed examples of ceremonial deism include the reference to God introduced into the
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at the
University of Chicago Law school stated in 2008 that "'Ceremonial Deism' is an odd name for a ritual affirmation that a Deist would be very reluctant to endorse, since Deists think of God as a rational causal principle but not as a personal judge and father."
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offending the
Constitution. This category of "ceremonial deism" most clearly encompasses such things as the national motto ("In God We Trust"), religious references in traditional patriotic songs such as "
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114:, concurring in the opinion, invoked the term in her analysis of the nature of the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, saying in part
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It has been unsuccessfully argued that the government requiring or promoting the phrase in "under God" violates protections against the
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discriminatory governmental actions often escape scrutiny, partly because they are shielded by the euphemism of "ceremonial deism".
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The first use of the term in a
Supreme Court opinion is in
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American ritual invocations of religion by government
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Separation of church and state in the United States
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42:The term was coined in 1962 by the then-dean of
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276:"Under God: The Pledge, Present and Future"
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232:. March 11, 2010. Archived from
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27:in 1954, the phrase "
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236:on March 16, 2010
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238:. Retrieved
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421:New Atheism
154:David Niose
138:Controversy
674:Categories
605:Polytheism
598:Euhemerism
576:Hylotheism
517:Monotheism
492:Henotheism
487:Misotheism
381:Antitheism
212:References
183:Law portal
160:Professor
121:de minimis
640:Tritheism
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539:Nontheism
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512:Monolatry
482:Egotheism
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465:Polydeism
386:Apatheism
359:Existence
240:March 11,
460:Pandeism
337:Divinity
169:See also
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391:Atheism
376:Animism
342:Goddess
62:to the
58:of the
620:Theism
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690:Deism
445:Deism
332:Deity
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133:]
347:List
242:2010
33:Ohio
321:God
98:In
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