Last Saturday, the Knights of Columbus had this entry in the Arlington Heights (suburban Chicago, Illinois) Independence Day parade:
It sure doesn't look like they put ONUG there because of its patriotic significance, not when you combine the phrase and a huge American flag with two large Christian crosses.
In fact, it proves just the opposite.
The Knights of Columbus is a Roman Catholic men's organization. It is the group that pushed for adding the phrase, "under God," to the Pledge back in the 1950's, which you can read about on this K of C web page.
By their own admission, they didn't do it, in the 1950's, for a secular reason, and they sure aren't putting the phrase on their parade float now for a secular, patriotic reason. Instead, they are doing it specifically to link god belief with patriotism. They do it to imply that, in order to be a patriotic American, you need to be a god-believer.
Mike Newdow
My friend, Michael Newdow, of Sacramento, California, has a lawsuit pending in federal appeals court in California that challenges the constitutionality of inclusion of ONUG in the Pledge. He's been waiting nearly two years for the court to decide whether it is constitutionally permissible for ONUG to remain in the Pledge on the purported grounds that it is supposedly religiously neutral, but Mike can't seem to get the appellate court to issue a ruling.
I wonder why. Do you suppose it's because it is so obvious that ONUG in the Pledge is unconstitutional, but issuing a ruling to that effect would ruin the appellate court justices' chances of ever getting nominated to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States?
You'll also be interested to know that each of the many members of Knights of Columbus that I met with and spoke to at this Fourth of July parade were extremely polite, courteous and respectful, unlike the numerous people who lined the streets and booed and swore at me for daring to stand up for atheists in a public parade.