Militant atheist organization seeks to ban schools from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
4/22/2014 (3 years ago)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)

An organization of militant atheists is suing a New Jersey school district of discrimination, on the behalf of a family who take offense to the line "Under God," within the Pledge of Allegiance.

The AHA says that the line "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance is discriminatory to atheist children.

Highlights

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
4/22/2014 (3 years ago)

Published in U.S.

Keywords: US, Religion, free speech

---

span style="line-height: 1.22;">LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The lawsuit against the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District was filed in New Jersey state court in March, and announced on April 21 by the American Humanist Association, an advocacy organization based in Washington D.C. 

Pray for America's school children.

One of the attorneys for the AHA's Appignani Humanist Legal Center, David Niose, said that public schools should be forbidden from permitting an exercise that equated patriotism with God.

"Such a daily exercise portrays atheists and humanist children as second-class citizens, and certainly contributes to anti-atheist prejudices," said Niose in a released statement.

The school districts' lawyer, David Rubin, said that the district is merely following a state law that requires schools to have a daily recitation of the pledge, and that individual students do not have to participate.

In a written statement he said that the school district is "disappointed that this national organization has targeted Matawan-Aberdeen for merely obeying the law as it stands."

The AHA awaits an appeal on a ruling against them in a similar case in Massachusetts, where they claim to seek equal rights for atheist and humanist children in regards to the "under God" line. They claim the line is discriminatory and needs to be removed, ignoring traditional First Amendment Establishment Clause arguments.

Weigh in in the comments section below. Has reciting the words "Under God" harmed or offended you?

---