For what it's worth, this photo isn't staged or from a movie. This was back before the Roman salute was popularised by the fascists.
Although it took until the US was halfway through WWII before they decided to abandon its usage so, yeah...
You can read more about it here. Tbh I liked it better when the US was mask-off about its nationalism.
Literally prayers. The "under God" part of the pledge was added during the cold war to distinguish the god-fearing American patriots from the godless Soviet commies.
Lawyers argue that it's not religious because it doesn't specify the Christian god, so you can pretend you're praying to a different god while saying it. Or to the abstract concept of god or something? Idk I got chewed out for sitting through it in school