Newdow, FFRF Launch New Challenge of 'under god' in pledge
Newdow, FFRF Launch New Challenge of "Under God" in Pledge Nov. 21 2007
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has joined Michael Newdow in launching
a
new challenge of the religious phrase "under God" in the Pledge of
Allegiance.
Plaintiffs include an anonymous Hanover couple who are Foundation members,
as
well as the Foundation on behalf of its New Hampshire members.
Defendants include Congress, and three local school districts.
The federal lawsuit was filed in the Hanover school district on Oct. 31,
with
plaintiffs represented by Newdow, an emergency room doctor who has a law
degree.
The Hanover couple, identified as "Jan and Pat Doe," are an atheist and an
agnostic with three children in the Hanover schools.
"Plaintiffs, generally deny that God exists, and maintain that their
constitutional and statutory rights are abridged when the school district
defendants participate in making the purely religious, monotheistic claim
that
the United States is 'one nation under God,' " the lawsuit states.
The original pledge was secular until Congress inserted "under God" in
1954,
after lobbying by Christian groups.
Newdow originally challenged the religious wording in the pledge several
years
ago, winning his case in a legal triumph before the Ninth U.S. Circuit
court of
Appeals. The case was thrown out after the U.S. Supreme court ruled in 2004
that
Newdow, as the noncustodial parent of his daughter, had no standing to sue.
Newdow is pursuing a new challenge in California with a set of custodial
parents. An appeal of that case, as well as Newdow's challenge of the words
"In
God We Trust" as a national motto, will be heard in early December by the
Ninth
Circuit.
A 2002 New Hampshire law requires schools to include recitation of the
pledge
of allegiance in every school day but adds that student participation is
voluntary.
The two plaintiffs still believe that by including the phrase in the
pledge,
the district is nevertheless "endorsing the religious notion that God
exists"
and thereby creating a "societal environment where prejudice against
atheists .
.. . is perpetuated," according to the suit.
"It should be noted that Plaintiffs are making no objection to the
recitation
of a patriotic Pledge of Allegiance. The government is certainly within its
right to foster patriotism, and it may certainly make the determination
that
recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance serves that purpose. However,
government
may not employ or include sectarian religious dogma towards this end," the
legal
complaint states.
"By placing the religious words 'under God' into the Pledge, Congress not
only
interfered with the patriotism and national unity the Pledge was meant to
engender, but it actually fostered divisiveness. . . in a manner expressly
forbidden by the Constitution."
"We are delighted to be joining with Michael Newdow and members in New
Hampshire in this challenge. The religious tampering with the Pledge of
Allegiance during the 1950s means that several generations of Americans
have
grown accustomed to the idea that patriotism and godliness are synonymous.
This
violation has subverted respect for the separation between church and
state, and
for nonreligious citizens. It is time to restore the pledge to its
inclusive and
secular original wording," said Foundation co-presidents Dan Barker and
Annie
Laurie Gaylor.
Freedom From Religion Foundation • PO Box 750 • Madison, WI 53701 • (608)
256-8900 • e-mail us
© Freedom From Religion Foundation.
This E-News is courtesy of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, PO Box
750,
Madison WI 53701. The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national
association
of freethinkers (atheists and agnostics) working to keep church and state
separate since 1978. For more information, go to http://www.ffrf.org.
.
|
