# What does "God Bless America" mean?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 20, 2007, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590 "2007-07-20T21:53:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2007, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/1 "2007-07-20T21:53:42Z")
1. When someone says, “God Bless America,” what do they mean? Are they _asking_ God to bless America? Or do they declaring a belief that God has \*already \* blessed America?
2. Is this phrase unique to the United States? Do people in Uruguay, for example, say, “God Bless Uruguay”?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2007, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/2 "2007-07-20T21:57:01Z")
I take it to be a request for God’s blessing – because we _deserve_ it!
Don’t know about Uruguay, but the Germans in WWII had _Gott mit uns_ on their belt buckles.
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### Author:  [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2007, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/3 "2007-07-20T22:02:19Z")
It is (or was) a plea for God to bless America, expressed in the subjunctive mood in an archaic syntax, analogous to phrases such as “Long live the Queen”. Of course, for most modern speakers, these are largely opaque, stock phrases, rather than genuine employments of the archaic syntax, so it makes sense that one would find them a little confusing to actually decompose and parse. And, indeed, in some modern uses of the phrase, one might consider it to mean something more like “Hooray for America!” or “Thank God for America”.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2007, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/4 "2007-07-20T22:05:51Z")
It’s asking for a blessing. Look at the next lines in the song:
\*God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above. \*
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### Author:  [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2007, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/5 "2007-07-20T22:09:59Z")
Religious acts doesn’t _mean_ anything, as you’re asking for. It’s like, when somebody’s real sick or something, you say, “it’s gonna be alright” (whether it’s gonna be alright or not), or when somebody’s going to an important interview, you say, “good luck”, and so on. - It doesn’t mean anything beyond the act of expressing, well, assurance. “Everything’s good, God’s watching over us”, or “I’m sure everything’s good, because the Great Father is watching over us.”
People have been saying this for two hundred thousand years - it doesn’t really mean anything, it’s just, it’s just… something we do, in one way or another.
Have you ever consoled anybody?, wished anybody happiness?
You atheists should read up on psychology. God or no God, it isn’t as unwordly as it seems. It’s quite ordinary. Loosen up.
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### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2007, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/6 "2007-07-20T22:11:40Z")
'cause ‘merica ain’t nothin’ to sneeze at!
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### Author:  [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2007, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/7 "2007-07-20T22:12:15Z")
The phrase “God bless America” surely significantly predates the song, no? At any rate, another song employing similar archaic syntax would be “America the Beautiful”, with its line “God shed his grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood…”, in which both “shed” and “crown” are being used in the same subjunctive manner as “bless” in “God bless America”.
For an interesting discussion of the confusion that can arise when a modern speaker (specifically, Ray Charles) misanalyzes the syntax of such phrases, see this [Language Log](http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001162.html) post.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2007, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/8 "2007-07-20T22:13:16Z")
I saw an interesting message on a local church the other day. It’s an Assembly of God church, and the message reads: “America bless God”.
No idea what it means.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2007, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/9 "2007-07-20T22:17:06Z")
> [@](#):
>
> When someone says, “God Bless America,” what do they mean? Are they asking God to bless America? Or do they declaring a belief that God has already blessed America?
“God Bless America” is a request. If its intent was to say that America was already blessed, it would be “God Blessed America” or “God Blesses America”.
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### Author:  [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2007, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/10 "2007-07-20T22:22:35Z")
…or if it was a demand, I suppose it would be something like “God, get your furry ass down here and BLESS us!”
(I don’t see how anyone looking at the song and for who English is a native language could mis-interpret the meaning of ‘God Bless America’ to be honest. Not a bust on the OP, I just don’t get it.)
-XT
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### Author:  [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2007, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/11 "2007-07-20T22:43:56Z")
[QUOTE=Crafter\_Man]
1. When someone says, “God Bless America,” what do they mean? Are they _asking_ God to bless America? Or do they declaring a belief that God has \*already \* blessed America?
[/QUOTE]
Depends if a politican or a non-politican is invoking it.
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### Author:  [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/12 "2007-07-20T22:49:50Z")
**Indistinguishable** clearly nailed it; my only contention would be the archaicness of the syntax. Perhaps… “current use” always precedes such phrases with “may”? For example, “May God bless America.” Still confused? Okay, “May The Force be with you.” I’d regard “The Force be with you” as acceptable syntax as well.
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### Author:  [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2007, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/13 "2007-07-20T23:32:24Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme]
…or if it was a demand, I suppose it would be something like “God, get your furry ass down here and BLESS us!”
[/QUOTE]
God’s a furry? :eek:
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### Author:  [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2007, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/14 "2007-07-21T00:17:43Z")
Is this really a misunderstood phrase?
maybe it’s missing a comma, as in
God, Bless America.
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### Author:  [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2007, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/15 "2007-07-21T00:31:12Z")
I never put more thought into it than someone is saying, I believe in God, I love America; therefore God should bless America.
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### Author:  [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2007, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/16 "2007-07-21T00:41:03Z")
[QUOTE=BwanaBob]
Is this really a misunderstood phrase?
maybe it’s missing a comma, as in
God, Bless America.
[/QUOTE]
But that’s misunderstanding it again by making it an imperative. You’re not gonna bully God around, after all. When you say (if you say) “God bless you,” are you indicating to the sneezer “may God bless you,” or are you really saying, “God, bless this sneezing dude for me, okay?”?
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### Author:  [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2007, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/17 "2007-07-21T00:43:34Z")
[QUOTE=BwanaBob]
Is this really a misunderstood phrase?
maybe it’s missing a comma, as in
God, Bless America.
[/QUOTE]
It certainly could be misinterpreted, as you’ve just illustrated with your reanalysis. You’ve cast it into the imperative mood with an initial vocative expression, which may give hints of semantic similarity to the correct parsing, but which isn’t quite right as a syntactic analysis: consider the difference between “God bless you” and “God, bless you”.
ETA: God damn you, **Balthisar**! So close… 🙂
Further ETA: Though my point with “God bless you” as an analogue is a little different from **Balthisar** ’s
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2007, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/18 "2007-07-21T00:53:12Z")
[QUOTE=Crafter\_Man]
1. When someone says, “God Bless America,” what do they mean? Are they _asking_ God to bless America? Or do they declaring a belief that God has \*already \* blessed America?
[/QUOTE]
It is a prayer, of sorts.
Perhaps you are not among those who said bedtime prayers as a child:
“God bless Daddy and Mommy and Grandma and Grandpa and Spot and Fluffy and …”
> [@](#):
>
> 1. Is this phrase unique to the United States? Do people in Uruguay, for example, say, “God Bless Uruguay”?
It’s my understanding that the English are wont to say “God Save the Queen.”
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2007, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/19 "2007-07-21T01:26:42Z")
[QUOTE=Wakinyan]
People have been saying this for two hundred thousand years - it doesn’t really mean anything, it’s just, it’s just… something we do, in one way or another.
[/QUOTE]
Interestingly, each part of this sentence is as amazingly wrong as the other. A hard standard to live up to.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2007, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/20 "2007-07-21T03:38:23Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan]
I saw an interesting message on a local church the other day. It’s an Assembly of God church, and the message reads: “America bless God”.
[/quote]
Work there, Yoda does?
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