SUPREME COURT TO HEAR “PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE CASE”
Center for Law & Religious Freedom Files
Supreme Court Brief Urging Court to Uphold Pledge
WASHINGTON, DC – The Supreme Court hears arguments tomorrow
in the case of Michael Newdow, an atheist who claims that the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance violates the
Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. A California federal district court dismissed his challenge, but a fractured
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in his favor, holding that the reference to God constitutes an impermissible endorsement
of religion, results in government coercion of schoolchildren into religious practices, and has no valid secular purpose.
Judge Fernandez dissented, arguing that the inclusion of a religious reference in the Pledge poses little threat of the
creation of a theocracy or the suppression of religious beliefs.
The Center for Law and Religious Freedom of the Christian
Legal Society filed an amicus brief in support of the Elk Grove Unified School District, joined by the Center for Public
Justice, Concerned Women for America, and the Christian Educators Association. The Center argues that the inclusion of the
phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, considered in its historical and legal context represents not an endorsement of
monotheism, but rather a proposition from the Declaration of Independence that is both theological and political, namely, that
human rights are transcendent and sacred because they are "endowed by [the] Creator.” The words were adopted to affirm the
basis for America’s concept of limited government. To hold that the government cannot permit public affirmation of such
principles, the Center contends, would ultimately weaken protection for religious liberty and other inalienable rights by
undermining the basis for such rights.
“The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment was enacted
to protect citizens from the imposition of a state religion, not to enforce a functional state atheism,” said Chief Litigation
Counsel Steven H. Aden, Esq. “Since the inclusion of the words ‘under God’ in the Pledge in 1954, thirteen Justices of the
Supreme Court have signed onto opinions affirming the constitutionality of the Pledge, and we are confident that the Court will
reaffirm its place in America’s constitutional system in this case as well.”
Christian Legal Society, a 42 year-old nationwide association
of Christian attorneys, law students, law professors, and judges,
established the Center for Law and Religious Freedom in 1975. The
Center is among the most respected voices in the religious liberty
arena.
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