The Deseret News reported that a human rights group has filed a lawsuit against a public school for the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in its classrooms. According to the complaint, which was brought on behalf by a local family based in central New Jersey, the mandatory recital of the pledge has violated rights of non-believers. The Pledge of Allegiance contains a phrase "under God," of which the complaint says discriminates people who do not believe in God.
The case filed against Monmouth County's Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District would be the second one that shows a change in strategy against the pledge under religious freedom rights, the Deseret News said. It is contending that the pledge committed a violation of the protection of the state constitution against religious discrimination. Earlier cases reportedly held that the pledge had violated the ban on the establishment of religion under the US Constitution.
The online news site noted that the first case was also brought by the American Humanist Association as well. It is currently awaiting a decision from the presiding judge in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Executive director Roy Speckhardt of the AHA said about the lawsuit, "It's not the place of state governments to take a position on god-belief. The current pledge practice marginalizes atheist and humanist kids as something less than ideal patriots, merely because they don't believe the nation is under God."
When contacted by the Deseret News, a lawyer for the school district responded by insisting that the district has been following a state law that requires the recitation of the pledge daily in state public schools.
The online news site noted that the phrase "under God" was nonexistent in the Pledge of Allegiance until it was added by a US Congress vote as a protection against godless Communism in 1954.
