# What does "God Bless America" mean? **URL:** \ **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:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/41 "2007-07-22T17:51:13Z")
[QUOTE=Scissorjack] It’s not the imperative, since one presumably cannot give God orders {and in any case that would require a comma and possibly an exclamation mark: “God, bless America!”}. [/QUOTE] What, one can’t nonchalantly tell God what to do? 🙂 [QUOTE=Scissorjack] Timed out on the edit: “Live long and prosper” is another good contemporary example of this construction. [/QUOTE] It is? It’s certainly semantically analogous, in that it expresses a wish as well. But while the meaning-equivalent “May you live long and prosper” is undoubtedly the same syntactic construction as “May the Force be with you”, the phrase “Live long and prosper” seems to me entirely syntactically different. I would analyze it as in the imperative mood, as evidenced by the lack, in the construction, of an explicit subject. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/42 "2007-07-23T04:02:48Z")
God blessed Texas. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/43 "2007-07-23T17:23:42Z")
[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”. No idea what it means. [/QUOTE] It means pretty much to behave in a way that would be pleasing to God, or to offer up praise. As example, Psalm 103:1-2 – \*Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: \* You don’t see it used in that way much these days, but it is still valid. RR ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/44 "2007-07-23T18:13:07Z")
Notwithstanding the existence of this thread in GQ, I humbly submit Mark Twain’s [The War Prayer](http://www.warprayer.org/) , which is my standard response to admonitions that God Bless America. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/45 "2007-07-23T19:21:06Z")
It means the president’s speech has ended. It means, “I’ll sing this song while the groundskeepers freshen up the infield.” It means, for a dollar seventy-nine, this magnetic ribbon will cover a scratch on your car. It means I have hit my thumb instead of the nail, and I’m trying to cut down on my cussing. It means America sneezed. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/46 "2007-07-23T20:23:19Z")
[QUOTE=DanBlather] Do you remember Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure when the jock is giving his incoherent speech, runs out of things to say, and then yells “San Dimas football rules” to thundering applause. God Bless America is the same. [/QUOTE] EXACTLY! 😃 I think it’s usually fits under 3 general themes… 1. Probably most fitting is the sense of “May God Bless America”. Most grammatically likely candidate, etc. 2. God is on our side, as in “God Bless(es) America, so don’t try anything sneaky, raghead…” 3. Let’s just cram favorite words, “God” and “America” into the same sentence as a talisman against evil. The “bless” has to be in there because “God America” just sounds stupid (although I cannot guarantee it will not catch on with certain members of the audience. _God! America! God! America! Sieg…_ etc). All in all, it is probably entirely as innocent as drinking lemonade on the front porch while reading Grandma’s bible. But in light of recent events and politics, count me as one who gets a little jumpy and covers up his tattoo when those words start getting too close to each other. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/47 "2007-07-23T21:05:39Z")
[QUOTE=robardin] I dunno about that. _Ye cannot serve both God and Mammon_, or so I’ve heard on relatively good authority (Matthew 6:24). [/quote] While this is true, this just puts money in it’s proper perspective, God first and foremost. Look at how Job was restored after his test by God/temptation by Satan went Job was restored to riches and family. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590/48 "2007-07-23T23:22:51Z")
> [@](#): > > 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”. Whenever I see that line, it’s usually followed by “He has already blessed you”. And in light of the grammatical discussion above, “America bless God” probably _should_ have a comma, since it’s addressed (via church signs and bumper stickers) directly towards America, with the expectation that the author of the phrase might have some influence over America, and therefore would work better in the imperative. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-god-bless-america-mean/412590.md?page=2)