Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on Tuesday
sent a letter to the FBI official who omitted the words "under God" when quoting from the Pledge of Allegiance on Monday asking that he correct the record.
FBI Louisiana Field Office Special Agent in Charge
Jeff Sallet said during a press conference on the killings of three Baton Rouge law enforcement that he was calling for unity amid attacks on police after the shootings by officers of black men in Baton Rouge and elsewhere in the country.
"As toddlers we learned the Pledge of Allegiance," Sallat said. "I'm going to quote seven words from the pledge: One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
The omission of the words "under God" drew immediate criticism, and Perkins, a former law enforcement officer in Baton Rouge mentioned it in his letter to Sallet.
"I would agree with your statement at the press conference yesterday that unity is what we need and what we should seek at this time of crisis in our community and in our nation," he wrote. "Sharing your desire for unity, I wanted to bring to your attention that in your reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance you omitted the fundamental element that has historically unified us — the fact that we are one nation under God."
Perkins noted that the omission may have been inadvertent, but added that it was "noticeable and concerning given the steady attacks on religious liberty by the present administration."
Perkins quoted President Ronald Reagan from a prayer breakfast in Dallas, Texas in 1984: "If we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under."
"President Reagan is right," Perkins wrote. "Removing God only makes it more difficult to overcome the division and distrust that has been seeded into our nation. Only through God can we as individuals, families, communities and a nation find hope and unity."
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