Is It Time To Remove Under God From The Pledge?

A national humanist group is suing a New Jersey school district on behalf of a family that believes the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance is discriminatory toward atheist children.

The lawsuit against the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District was filed in state court last month and announced Monday by the American Humanist Association, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization.

The group says the phrase, added in 1954, "marginalizes atheist and humanist kids as something less than ideal patriots." The anonymous plaintiffs say those two words violate the state constitution's right to equal protection.

David B. Rubin, a lawyer for the Matawan-Aberdeen district, said the district is following state law that requires the pledge to be said daily. The federal courts have upheld the constitutionality of the pledge in schools, he added, as long as students who object are not required to participate.

“We are disappointed that this national organization has targeted Matawan-Aberdeen for merely obeying the law as it stands,” Rubin said in a written statement.

Every attempt to eliminate the mention of God has thus far failed, but the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts will hear arguments on Wednesday seeking removal of the two words for a new reason: discrimination.

"This is the first challenge of its kind" said Roy Speckhardt, the executive director of the American Humanist Association, an atheist group arguing for the plaintiffs. "We feel very confident that we have a strong case."

That case, which was brought by an unidentified family of a student at a school in suburban Boston, will be argued on the premise that the pledge violates the Equal Rights Amendment of the Massachusetts Constitution. It is the first such case to be tried on the state level: All previous attempts have been argued in federal court on the grounds that 'under God' was an unconstitutional violation of the separation of church and state.

Ouch my feelings please do something about them.

Washington offends me take him off the one dollar bill please.

Andrew Jackson's hard fight with the elite bankers of his time against having a central bank, Jackson's achievements were all in vain when a group of elite banking individuals secretly traveled to Jekkyl Island in 1913 and created the Federal Reserve, which is now our central bank. Because Jackson so greatly opposed any form of paper currency, especially in $20 bills, the irony in all of this is that Jackson's face is printed on the $20 bill in order to mock him.

"Not every mention of God in public is a breach to the wall of separation - context matters. It is doubtful that children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance feel oppressed or brainwashed as a consequence of muttering the phrase 'under God.' I didn't."

June 28, 2006 - Barack Obama

it's already been removed in some of the south.

I would say take out the Pledge of Allegiance all together. What's the point? To brainwash kids into being patriotic?

In the Pledge of Allegiance, the words "under God" are best understood as a reflection of the simple historical fact that the Founders believed in a supreme being, and that their belief led them to dedicate the nation to the fundamental secular precept that all men have unalienable rights to liberty and justice.

Is there something wrong with encouraging patriotism?

Having kids saying the pledge is just brainwashing. They are not taught to critically think about what they are pledging their allegiance too or to compare it with what other places do. I tell my kids don't say the pledge of allegiance for that reason and also tell them not to pledge allegiance to anything until you know and understand what they are actually doing. Knowing what this country has done, continues to do and is responsible for, I am sure my kids will never pledge.

As a nation founded on the idea of individual protection against the group, I find the Pledge of Allegiance antithetical to the national identity.

My school was fairly cool about not reciting the pledge, you had to stand in respect during the pledge, but didn't have to actually say it. Anyway, wasn't the "Under God" bit added during the Regan years anyway? It's hardly a tradition if it was added by America's greatest traitor.

Did anyone else have to recite a pledge to a state flag along with the US flag, other than KN? :/

Damn, you know too much.

/*** gun

Our school system had it so ages K-5 had to recite it, after that you just had to stand.

Did anyone else have to recite a pledge to a state flag along with the US flag, other than KN? :/

It should really be removed but suing government official over it? Come on now. This is why in the UK we view Americans as a bunch of people just looking to sue eachother.

By the same token God should be taken out of God Save the Queen but I'm not going to sue 10 Downing Street because I'm an Atheist.