Editing Francis Bellamy (section)

==Early life==
Francis Julius Bellamy was born on May 18, 1855, in [[Mount Morris, New York]] to Rev. David Bellamy (1806–1864) and Lucy Clark.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.ca/genealogy/records/francis-julius-bellamy-24-6ctwnp?geo_a=r&geo_s=ca&geo_t=ca&geo_v=2.0.0&o_iid=41016&o_lid=41016&o_sch=Web+Property|title=Francis Julius Bellamy|access-date=28 August 2020}}</ref> His family was deeply involved in the [[Baptists|Baptist]] church and both Francis and his father became ministers.  The family moved to [[Rome, New York]], when Francis was only 5. Here, Bellamy became an active member of the First Baptist Church where his father served as minister until his death in 1864. Francis went on to attend the [[University of Rochester]] in [[Rochester, New York]], where he studied theology and belonged to the [[Alpha Delta Phi]] fraternity.

He became a Baptist minister as a young man.  He was very much influenced by the vestiges of the [[Second Great Awakening]].  He travelled to promote his Baptist faith and lived to be of service to others in his community. Bellamy's travels brought him to Massachusetts where he penned the "Pledge of Allegiance" for a campaign by the ''Youth's Companion'', a patriotic circular and magazine. Bellamy "believed in the absolute [[separation of church and state]]"<ref name="Freethinkers 2004. p. 287">"Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism", Susan Jacoby. Metropolitan Press, 2004. p. 287. {{ISBN|0-8050-7442-2}}</ref> and purposefully did not include the phrase "under God" in his pledge.