A student filed a lawsuit last year against the Matawan-Aberdeen school district in Monmouth County, arguing that the phrase “under God” fostered a climate of discrimination in the classroom because it exalted religion and made non-believers feel like “second-class citizens.”

The student and his parents – who are not identified in court papers – filed suit along with the American Humanist Association, a national group of atheists that teaches social responsibility. Attorneys argued that the student felt marginalized hearing the pledge every day “just as America’s Jews, Hindus, and Muslims would feel excluded, marginalized and stigmatized if they were told by their government on a daily basis that the United States is one nation ‘under Jesus.’”

State Superior Court Judge David F. Bauman dismissed the case in February, noting that the student was free to skip the pledge. The judge upheld a New Jersey law that says pupils must recite the Pledge of Allegiance unless they have “conscientious scruples” that do not allow it.

Quoting George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Dwight D. Eisenhower and the New Jersey Constitution, Bauman said the United States for centuries has woven small aspects of religion and references to God into its customs and traditions – not as an endorsement of any faith, but as an acknowledgement of the role religion played in the country’s founding.

“As a matter of historical tradition, the words ‘under God’ can no more be expunged from the national consciousness than the words ‘In God We Trust’ from every coin in the land, than the words ‘so help me God’ from every presidential oath since 1789, or than the prayer that has opened every congressional session of legislative business since 1787,” Bauman wrote in his decision.

“The pledge of allegiance, in this historical context, is not to be viewed, and has never been viewed, as a religious exercise,” Bauman wrote. Instead, the judge said, it was meant to promote the “core values of duty, honor, pride and fidelity to country on which the social contract between the United States and its citizens is ultimately based.”

Bauman’s ruling was published by the state judiciary Monday, meaning other lawyers may cite it in similar cases, although it is not considered binding on other courts.

The American Humanist Association has been trying to strike the phrase “under God” from the pledge in efforts around the country, arguing that it is discriminatory to people who do not worship a deity and that Congress only inserted the phrase in the 1950s, at the height of the “Red Scare” during the Cold War.

“The daily pledge recitation is a core part of how we define patriotism for children on a daily basis, so the exercise is discriminatory if it associates patriotism with God-belief and suggests that atheists and humanists are second-class citizens,” David Niose, legal director of the American Humanist Association’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center, said in response to Bauman’s ruling in February.

The group has said it does not plan to appeal. Arnold N. Fishman, the attorney for the AHA and the student’s family, did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

“This case does not deal with religious freedom,” said David B. Rubin, the attorney for the Matawan-Aberdeen school district. Instead, he said, Bauman referenced rulings by other courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, that have found the pledge to be constitutional. “It is a reference to the role religion played in the establishment of this country,” Rubin said.

The Monmouth County student argued that hearing the pledge violated his right to equal protection under the state constitution, because he wished to engage in what he viewed as a patriotic exercise, but not by compromising his principles.

Bauman said even the New Jersey constitution included a reference to an “Almighty God.”

“Under plaintiffs’ reasoning, the very constitution under which plaintiffs seek redress for perceived atheistic marginalization could itself be deemed unconstitutional, an absurd proposition which plaintiffs do not and cannot advance here,” Bauman wrote, adding later: “Protecting students from viewpoints and ideas that may offend or upset them is not and has never been the role of public schools in America.”

Governor Christie had nominated Bauman, a Republican, to serve on the state Supreme Court in 2012. Facing resistance from state Democrats who control the Senate, Christie later dropped Bauman. The governor instead nominated him to a tenured judgeship on the Superior Court last week.

Email: rizzo@northjersey.com