Dewey,

Hitler's Germany was not a Godless country (in the sense of atheistic). Hitler was a mystical Christian who believed that the rise of the Aryan people was ordained by God. Plenty of brutal muders have been committed in God's name and in Christ's, and an invocation of those names is no guarantee of goodness, as you well know.

I think many would argue that invoking the name God, in the singular, in tax-funded governmant contexts, is establishing religion, at least establishing that monotheism is the norm. Hindus do not see themselves as being under God, and neither do Shinto practitioners, etc. To include language that treats one person's religious belief as the norm, and another's as anomalous, is precisely what the separation of church and state is meant to avoid. Once again: If you want to say "Under God" in private, nobody gives a damn. But using tax dollars to spread the idea that Christianity is one of the relgions that the government agrees with while hinduism is not, that's a problem!