One Nation under God...?

"One Nation, Under God..."
Why is that phrase in our pledge of allegiance so important?  Why do some want to remove it?

There are many reasons, but one is this: "Under God" stands as a constant reminder that human beings and human government are not the highest authority.  The power of the State cannot demand our very highest allegiance, because there is a higher power still.

In a world where the State has often made itself into an idol - from Ancient Rome to Modern Communist states - the claim that there is a higher Power that is the Ultimate source of Justice serves as a continual check against the tendency of the state or those in power to grasp more than is right.

Go back and read the Declaration of Independence.  The very logic of it runs like this: God is the highest Power and the Highest source of Justice.  Insofar as the King and Parliament of Great Britain have acted contrary to God's design, by trampling our God-given rights, then the King and Parliament really are in the Wrong.  That is what makes our Declaration of Independence from them a legitimate and justified act.

We were appealing to the Justice of God over against the injustice of our human rulers.  That is of course why the Colonists had flags that said things like "An Appeal to Heaven" on them.
That is also why governments and people in authority - especially those who have turned their own power into an idol - will often try to either hijack the Church (as the Nazis did, putting swastikas on the altars in German churches) or they will try to destroy the Church altogether (as the Communists have attempted to do for over a century now wherever they've come to power) - because the Church's confession that "Jesus is Lord" will always bring with it the corollary "and therefore the State is not..."

Below is a remarkable video from Bishop Barron discussing just this topic: