'Under God' serves good secular cause
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A nation should be under something. If not God, then some set of human values, of principles of human behavior that are bigger, even, than a Constitution. To acknowledge being under something is a good exercise in humility.

The "under God" phrase serves that idea, if imperfectly.
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Is the phrase constitutional, given the Constitution's ban on "an establishment of religion?" When the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case challenging the "under God" language this month, most of the justices dodged the constitutional issues....

But Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said the phrase is constitutional. She said the phrase, far from establishing anything, is part of a custom of "ceremonial deism." Deism is a belief — held by some Founding Fathers — that a god created the world and its rules but does not get involved in its affairs. The term is sometimes used as a reference to minimalist religion, a belief in God with no other implications.

That formulation ought to comfort those who see any acceptance of a reference to God in government as a new inroad for the religious right, a path toward dominance by conservative Christians.

The O'Connor formulation points a way toward acceptance of the pledge — as is — that just about everybody ought to be able to live with.

--Dayton Daily News Editorial