“Under God” is as much a part of the Pledge of Allegiance as red, white and blue are part of the American flag. That was the ruling this week by a New Jersey judge who said an atheist student did not face discrimination or coercion during the recitation of the daily Pledge in the classroom.
State Superior Court Judge David F. Bauman upheld the right of the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District in Monmouth County to follow the state statute that mandates daily recitation of the pledge. Students are allowed, however, to abstain from participating in the pledge for any reason they choose.
Reciting the pledge is not a “religious exercise,” Bauman ruled, but rather a way to transmit the “core values of duty, honor, pride and fidelity to country” to public school boys and girls.
The Does, the unnamed family pressing the case, were joined in the suit by the American Humanist Association, a 25,000-member non-profit organization that uses the slogan “Good Without a God.” The AHA argued that the Pledge discriminated against atheists “by portraying God-belief as synonymous with patriotism and implying that nonbelievers are less patriotic.”
Bauman didn’t see it that way. The plaintiffs did not “establish any kind of discrimination,” he ruled, “because Doechild is not being treated any differently than his peers, nor is he being coerced to partake in an activity that violates his religious beliefs.”
Bauman noted that the state constitution has mentioned “Almighty God” since 1776. He found that the Pledge is a secular, not a religious activity and therefore constitutionally protected.
“As a matter of historical tradition,” he added, “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.”
Joining the school district were the American Legion, the Catholic organization Knights of Columbus, and the Jones family of South Jersey. “The message today is loud and clear: “God” is not a dirty word,” said Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which backed this defense and similar litigants in courts round the country.
Samantha Jones, a senior at Highland Regional High School who joined her family in the defense, said she was grateful for the court’s decision. “The phrase ‘under God’ protects all Americans, including atheists, because it reminds the government that it can’t take away basic human rights because it didn’t create them.”
The AHA expressed “disappointment” at the ruling, but vowed to carry on its national boycott of the Pledge. The group wants supporters to remain seated during the Pledge until the offending words “under God,” which did not appear until 1954 as a reaction to the Cold War, are excised. “The Soviet Union fell in 1991,” the lawsuit argued, “and the need, if there ever was any, to distinguish America in this manner from communist adversaries no longer exists.”
Bauman made it clear where he stands: "The words 'under God' are now as interwoven through the fabric of the Pledge of Allegiance as the threads of red, white and blue into the fabric of the flag to which the Pledge is recited."
