The words "under God" were added to the US Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, during the Cold War, under the Eisenhower administration, to mark a distinction between the USA and so-called 'godless' communism of the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.

When people today quote "one nation, under God" as evidence that the founders of this country created a Christian Nationalist country, they are repeating historical inaccuracies. You are welcome to correct them.

@VisualStuart

Thatโ€™s also about the time that the US adopted โ€œIn God We Trustโ€ as a national motto, supplanting the older but unofficial โ€œE Pluribus Unumโ€

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_national_motto

United States national motto - Wikipedia

@DavidM_yeg @VisualStuart

That phrase dates from considerably earlier, though.

Here's Aleister Crowley(!) with "A Hymn for the American People": https://hermetic.com/crowley/international/xii/3/a-hymn-for-the-american-people, in 1918.

(His voice here: https://aleistercrowley.bandcamp.com/track/hymn-to-the-american-people-on-the-anniversary-of-their-independence)

An Hymn for the American People - Issue 3, March 1918 - Volume XII - The International - The Libri of Aleister Crowley - Hermetic Library

@VisualStuart @TomSwirly

Sure, it dates back a good ways, but to the OPโ€™s point: these symbols are not some founding legacy - as they are so often presented - but were deliberate choices made within the lifetimes of people you can go talk to. Choices that can be just as simply unmade.
Much like the โ€˜biblicalโ€™ claims of american evangelicalism, the coinage is pretty recent once you scratch away the patina of originalist pretence.

@DavidM_yeg @VisualStuart Absolutely agree. I myself am very anti-clerical. If God existed, He would be one of the least trustworthy creatures ever.

To be honest, I just wanted to show off that recording of Crowley. ๐Ÿ˜

@NorCalWineLady @DavidM_yeg @VisualStuart It is a very historically interesting recording, and free of the magickal snake oil that generally pervades Crowley's stuff, so I stand by my decision. ๐Ÿ™‚
@TomSwirly @DavidM_yeg @VisualStuart
And I still roll my eyes๐Ÿ™„. So much so that my mom mother's admonition that they'll get stuck that way some day still rings in my head. ๐Ÿ˜
PS, I read some of Crowley's stuff in my 20s. It was a phase. I know better now. But the 'anthem'? Meh. Just imo you understand.

@NorCalWineLady @DavidM_yeg @VisualStuart

Oh, sure, as I said, I think of "Magick" as snake oil (i.e., not just false but a deliberate rip-off).

Crowley does deserve to be remembered for creating the first detox facility for drug addicts though - before the concept of "addiction" was even understood.

His "Diary of a Drug Fiend" is still very readable where most of his material is not.

@TomSwirly @NorCalWineLady @DavidM_yeg @VisualStuart Had to open up the thread. My first question was, WTF did they do to the API now?
https://www.imagemagick.org/Magick++/
Magick++ API

@NorCalWineLady @TomSwirly @DavidM_yeg @VisualStuart I saw the odd spelling of 'Magick' and had used the computer tool by the same name so much that I couldn't figure out what was being said because the statement didn't make any sense. So, I opened the thread.

@Ralph058 @NorCalWineLady @DavidM_yeg @VisualStuart

Oh, that's Crowley's spelling of "magic" to differentiate it from magic tricks.

@DavidM_yeg @VisualStuart @TomSwirly *whispers* even choices that the founders made can just as easily be unmade ๐Ÿ˜‰