Knights Pledge to Take 'Under God' To High Court

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —Another judge has ruled that saying the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled Sept. 14 that publicly reciting the pledge calling America “one nation under God” violates a student's right to be “free from a coercive requirement to affirm God.”

One of the plaintiffs in the case is Michael Newdow, a Sacramento atheist, battled against the phrase “under God” last year. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal on procedural grounds.

In his decision, Karlton said he was bound by precedent to a previous decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco. The court found that a school, by scheduling a public recitation of the pledge — even a voluntary one — “places students in the untenable position of choosing between participating in an exercise with religious content or protesting.”

Judge Karlton acknowledged that his ruling “will satisfy no one involved in [this] debate,” but his decision paves the way for an injunction to bar students from within the school districts named in the lawsuit from reciting the pledge. The students affected are those within the Elk Grove Unified School District, the Elverta Joint Elementary School District and the Rio Linda Union School District.

Newdow filed the lawsuit on behalf of himself and two families with children who attend Sacramento-area schools. In their lawsuit, they declared that they “absolutely deny the existence of any God and find belief in such an entity to be a significantly distasteful notion.”

Newdow said he prefers the way the Pledge of Allegiance used to be recited, before “under God” was added in 1954.

The Knights of Columbus, the Catholic fraternal organization that spearheaded the effort to add the phrase “under God,” was quick to answer. Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said freedom of religion is at stake.

“If freedom of religion in America means anything at all,” Anderson said, “it means that it's just as constitutional to recite the Pledge of Allegiance — complete with the words “under God” — as it is to read aloud the Declaration of Independence. They both express the same truth: that our fundamental rights come from God, our Creator, and not from government. To suggest that the language of the First Amendment prohibits the simple statement of that truth is to stand the Constitution on its head.”

Those battling for the pledge vowed to appeal the judge's decision.

“We will be taking the appeal as quickly as we can,” said Derek Gaubatz, director of litigation for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents the Knights of Columbus and a group of California school children and their parents.

Meanwhile, in a case that was similar to the one brought by Newdow, a federal appeals court in Virginia in August upheld a state law requiring public school students to recite the pledge daily, saying that the pledge is a patriotic activity.

A New Religion?

The First Amendment of the Constitution says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

Bernard Dobranski, dean of the Ave Maria Law School, said that he cannot envision how reciting “under God” is actually trying to create a new religion. “There's no reasonable way one can take the phrase ‘under God’ and establish a religion in a way that the First Amendment prohibits,” Dobranski said. “It's not an establishment of a religion.

It's nothing more than affirming that this nation has its roots in a Supreme Being.”

Dobranski added that the upcoming change in the make-up of the U.S. Supreme Court — with the likely confirmation of Judge John Roberts as chief justice — will be a plus for those who advocate that “under God” remain as part of the pledge.

Dobranski said Roberts “is likely to be a voice, along with those of Justices [Antonin] Scalia and [Clarence] Thomas, who will make more rational sense in this area.”

Call to Action

For those who side with Newdow, the judge's decision was a victory for religious diversity.

“America is a very diverse nation,” said Americans United for Separation of Church and State Legal Director Ayesha Khan. “We have some 2,000 different denominations and faith groups, as well as many Americans who choose no religious path at all. It is wrong for public schools to ask students to affirm a religious belief in order to express their patriotism.”

Although the religious issue is a key one, patriotism is also important to those who want to keep the pledge in the public schools.

“As an immigrant to America, one of the proudest days of my life was when I became a citizen of the United States,” California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

“Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance always reminds me of the history of our nation's founding, the principles of our great democracy and the many sacrifices Americans have made to protect our country.”

William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, issued “a call to action” to California public school teachers after hearing about Judge Karlton's decision.

“The time has come for patriotic teachers in those schools to practice civil disobedience,” Donohue said. “They need to lead their students in the pledge, bellowing the dreaded words ‘under God.’ But nothing should be done until the television cameras are in place. The sight of teachers being handcuffed by the police would be an invaluable teaching moment. Settling this issue in court is fine, but it is inadequate: It's time to shock the conscience of the nation by bringing this matter directly into their living rooms.”

Carlos Briceño is based in Seminole, Florida.