Contact:
Merrill Miller, [email protected], 202-238-9088 ext. 105
David Niose, [email protected], 202-238-9088 ext.119
(Washington, DC—April 21, 2014)—A lawsuit was filed against a school district in New Jersey on behalf of a local family that objects to their child’s school conducting regular Pledge of Allegiance recitation with the words “under God.”
The case was filed by the American Humanist Association (AHA) on behalf of a Monmouth County family who wish to remain anonymous. It claims that daily school-sponsored recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance—declaring to students that the nation is “under God”—is discriminatory toward atheist children and their families. The American Humanist Association originally sent a letter of complaint to the superintendent of schools for the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District in Monmouth County on February 19, but the school system responded by saying it would not change the practice.
“Public schools should not engage in an exercise that tells students that patriotism is tied to a belief in God,” said David Niose, attorney for the American Humanist Association’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center. “Such a daily exercise portrays atheist and humanist children as second-class citizens, and certainly contributes to anti-atheist prejudices.”
The American Humanist Association claims that the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance violates Article 1 of the New Jersey Constitution, which states, “No person shall be denied the enjoyment of any civil or military right, nor be discriminated against in the exercise of any civil or military right, nor be segregated in the militia or in the public schools, because of religious principles, race, color, ancestry or national origin.” The American Humanist Association points out that the original version of the Pledge did not include “under God” wording. That wording was added in 1954, during the McCarthy era.
“It’s not the place of state governments to take a position on god-belief,” said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association. “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.”
This case is similar to one awaiting a decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Doe v. Acton-Boxborough Regional School District, based on that state’s constitutional equal rights protections. The Massachusetts case is also being handled by the American Humanist Association’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center.
Details of the lawsuit can be viewed here.
# # #
Founded in 1941 and headquartered in Washington, DC, the American Humanist Association (AHA) works to protect the rights of humanists, atheists, and other non-religious Americans. The AHA advances the ethical and life-affirming philosophy of humanism, which—without beliefs in any gods or other supernatural forces—encourages individuals to live informed and meaningful lives that aspire to the greater good of humanity.
Special thanks to the Louis J. Appignani Foundation for their support of the Appignani Humanist Legal Center.
As your previous post implied, there are American citizens yet living whose pledges of allegiance held no note of theocracy; that fact will not prevent the gnashing of teeth about ‘preserving our traditions’ and whatnot by the pro-goddists, though.
How’s about we simply change it to “under Allah” so that everybody can be happy?
Let’s face it: the whole reciting a pledge of allegiance thing is pretty strange. The god aspect is the decoration on a very weird cake.
True. I’ve always disliked it and been glad I was never required to recite it. (There was one very short period when my school suddenly decided we should do it, but it lasted a few days at most. I refused to do it at all, and I don’t remember any repercussions.)
I remember being the pledge leader during an all-school assembly when I was in elementary school. I have no idea why I was chosen. I think I was in the 3rd or 4th grade.
Man, that was some kind of pressure. My first time in front of a microphone.
Nailed it!
It never struck me as being anything other than a few sentences that one had to memorize, however. The words quite literally held no meaning–they were a recitation, nothing more. The context and back-story came later.
The Supreme Court has (after a false start, and one of the quickest reversals of themselves ever) recognized a right not to be forced to recite the pledge. It’s a safe bet that there are plenty of places where the practical impact of that ruling is non-existent though. Also it isn’t good enough, as these plaintiffs are pointing out. Intimidating kids into saying it is nearly as bad. And the whole “under god” thing is essentially an intentional FU to atheists, polytheists, and really adherents of all but the Abrahamic religions.