Students at one New Jersey elementary school will no longer be saying “God bless America” as part of their daily routine after the American Civil Liberties Union wrote the school’s attorneys and claimed the practice violated the Constitution, The Courier-Post newspaper reported.
The principal of Glenview Elementary School in Haddon Heights told the newspaper a pair of teachers started the tradition shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as a way of honoring victims and emergency personnel, but students were never formally required to do it. The kids had said the phrase after they concluded the Pledge of Allegiance, The Courier-Post reported.
But the ACLU wrote the tradition was unconstitutional because of its religious connotations, according to The Courier-Post, and while the school argued that the phrase was patriotic and not religious, it chose to abandon the practice altogether rather than potentially wage a legal battle.
One Christian parent told The Courier-Post her children would likely still say the phrase, and the principal added the school wouldn’t stop anyone who wanted to say it on their own.
Haddon Heights is located about 12 miles southeast of Philadelphia.
New Jersey schools will continue to say “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance after an anti-Christian organization reportedly has dropped their lawsuit.
The American Humanist Association (AHA) sued a New Jersey school district last year to get “under God” removed from the pledge. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who had been helping a student who was fighting the AHA, announced Monday the American Humanist Association had been beaten.
“The American Humanist Association’s challenge turned out to be all bark and no bite,” said Diana Verm, legal counsel with the Becket Fund, in a statement shared with The Christian Post. “The court was right that the pledge doesn’t exclude anyone, but dissenters have the right to sit it out. That’s how we’ve always dealt with disagreements in our society.”
The AHA did not expect that a high school student would stand up to fight them. Samantha Jones and her family filed responses to the lawsuit and testified during a November motion.
“I’ve been reciting the pledge since preschool, and to me the phrase ‘one nation under God’ sums up the history and values that have made our country great,” Jones said last year.
“I think it’s empowering to know that, no matter what happens, I have some rights the government can never take away. No student should be silenced just because some people disagree with timeless American values.”
A New Jersey teenager who stood up to atheists trying to have “one nation under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance has declared victory when a state judge dismissed the case.
Samantha Jones, a senior at Highland Regional High School, said it’s her right to keep reciting the pledge in its entirety.
“I’m so grateful the court decided that kids like me shouldn’t be silenced just because some people object to timeless American values,” said Jones, in a statement released by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty who represented her.
“Ever since I was little, I’ve recited the Pledge of Allegiance because it sums up the values that make our country great. 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 judge dismissed the case brought by the anti-Christian organization American Humanist Association after the testimony of Jones and her family.
“The message today is loud and clear: “God” is not a dirty word,” noted Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel for the Becket Fund in a press statement. “The Pledge of Allegiance isn’t a prayer, and reciting it doesn’t magically create an official state religion.”
A New Jersey court heard arguments on Wednesday on a motion to dismiss a lawsuit by anti-Christianists to have “under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance.
The motion to dismiss was filed by the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty on behalf of a New Jersey high school student who is standing up to the anti-Christianists and their attempts to remove any reference to God from public schools.
“I’ve been reciting the pledge since preschool, and to me the phrase ‘one nation under God’ sums up the history and values that have made our country great,” Samantha Jones said. “I think it’s empowering to know that, no matter what happens, I have some rights the government can never take away. No student should be silenced just because some people disagree with timeless American values.”
The legal counsel from the Beckett Fund praised the judge for being ready for the case and said it would be hard to tell which way he would be ruling on the motion.
“The judge seemed focused on the case, he had prepared well, and he was familiar with the arguments of each of the parties,” Diana Verm, legal counsel with the Becket Fund, told The Christian Post. “He asked tough questions of each side, and it is difficult to predict the outcome, but we are optimistic that he will agree with every other court to decide this issue and uphold the pledge.”
A New Jersey teenager is standing up to a vehement anti-Christian organization that wants to strip “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance.
Samantha Jones, a senior at Highland Regional High School in Blackwood, New Jersey, has filed an official response to the anti-Christian American Humanist Association and their attempts to remove the words from the pledge.
“If anyone wants to remain silent, that is their right. But it is not their right to silence me,” said Jones. “When I stand up, put my hand over my heart and say the Pledge of Allegiance, I am recognizing that my rights come from God, not from the government.”
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is representing the teen in the case.
The anti-Christianists are claiming that the existence of “under God” tells “atheist and humanist children” they are “second-class citizens.”
“the pledge is not a religious creed or a prayer. It is a statement of our nation’s political philosophy that rights come not from the state but from something higher — as our Declaration of Independence puts it, ‘Nature’s God,’” Kristina Arriaga of the Becket Fund said.
An anti-Christian organization has released a poll they claim shows one-third of Americans would like to see the phrase “under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance.
The American Humanist Association released a report done for their group by the Seidewitz Group backing up their claim.
Roy Speckhardt of the anti-Christian group told the Christian Post they did the poll in part because of a study from LifeWay Research last year. Speckhardt claims that after they explained the history of the Pledge to respondents, a greater number was in favor of removing the phrase.
The poll from LifeWay Research said that 85 percent of Americans wanted to keep “under God” in the pledge while only 8 percent said it should be removed. The poll numbers were similar to an ABC poll from 2002 where 89 percent of Americans said the phrase should be kept in the Pledge.
The anti-Christian group plans a “new campaign” against the Pledge but would not give specific details on the campaign steps. The AHA is currently overseeing a lawsuit against the phrase in New Jersey.
The Massachusetts Supreme Court has ruled that those who have been challenging the Pledge of Allegiance on the basis that the phrase “under God” means the government is endorsing Christianity have no basis.
The Supreme Judicial Court said that the words “under God” reflect a patriotic practice and not a religious one.
“We hold that the recitation of the pledge, which is entirely voluntary, violates neither the Constitution nor the statute,” Chief Justice Roderick Ireland wrote, later adding “it is not a litmus test for defining who is or is not patriotic. Although the words “under God” undeniably have a religious tinge, courts that have considered the history of the pledge and the presence of those words have consistently concluded that the pledge, notwithstanding its reference to God, is a fundamentally patriotic exercise, not a religious one.”
The lawsuit was brought by lawyers representing a pair of atheist adults who said their children were being illegally subjected to religion because of the phrase “under God.”
“We likewise reject the plaintiffs’ contention that, when some children choose to exercise their constitutionally protected right not to say the words “under God,” there is necessarily conveyed a message that the children are “unpatriotic.”” Justice Barbara Lenk wrote in Friday’s ruling.
An atheist family in Massachusetts is about to petition the Massachusetts Supreme Court to have the phrase “under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance.
The executive director of the American Humanist Association, one of the plaintiffs in the case, said they are taking a different stance in their attempt to eliminate God from the pledge. Continue reading →