Humanists Will Appeal "under God" Ruling [View all]

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For immediate release (American Humanist Association Press Release)

(Washington, DC – June 11, 2012) –A Massachusetts court has ruled against a humanist family in their challenge to the “under God” wording of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. The plaintiffs plan to appeal the ruling.

The lawsuit, filed by the American Humanist Association and a Massachusetts family, is the first of its kind seeking equal rights for atheists-humanists while ignoring traditional First Amendment Establishment Clause arguments. It seeks a declaration that the daily classroom practice of recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag—in the version that includes an affirmation that the nation is “under God”—violates state nondiscrimination law. In Massachusetts, both the state constitution and state statute prohibit discrimination based on religion.

“No child should go to school every day, from kindergarten to grade twelve, to be faced with an exercise that defines patriotism according to religious belief,” said the plaintiffs’ attorney David Niose, who is also AHA president. “If conducting a daily classroom exercise that marginalizes one religious group while exalting another does not violate basic principles of equal rights and nondiscrimination, then I don’t know what does.”

The Massachusetts case, while not challenging the federal statute that added “under God” language to the Pledge in 1954, argues that states nevertheless can have a right and a duty to protect religious minorities that are marginalized by such exclusionary language.

http://www.americanhumanist.org/news/details/2012-06-humanists-will-appeal-under-god-ruling

The decision:

http://www.americanhumanist.org/system/storage/63/ee/7/3171/SJ_Decision_Partial.pdf