An atheist family is suing a New Jersey school district to have the words “Under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance. On its face, the suit which was filed by the American Humanist Association seems silly in that the individual district didn’t write the pledge nor did they write the state law requiring the pledge of allegiance be made daily at school.
It seems so ridiculous that even the school’s attorney David Rubin. “All we are doing is abiding by requirements of state law, we and approximately 590 other school districts in the state,” he reportedly said. “If the group who’s brought this lawsuit questions the wisdom of that policy or the legality of it, we believe their arguments are much better directed to the state Legislature who’s imposed this requirement on us, rather than suing an individual school district on this matter.”
Rubin’s right. So why go after the district?
Two reasons. One, the family might just get an individual school district to back down from the lawsuit and pull the pledge to avoid paying Mr. Rubin’s fees throughout an elongated litigation. Secondly, the family knows that there’s no way to lobby the state legislature to reverse the law. Think about it, what legislator is going to make this their cause when there’s other important legislation like legalizing pot on the agenda.
So the family goes to the courts where they just need one stupid judge (and if you’re keeping score at home, New Jersey is packed with stupid judges) to overturn the law requiring schools to have the pledge made or maybe even have the words “Under God” be found unconstitutional if you find a wacky enough judge.
Hey, secularists have definitely learned that what you can’t get done through votes, just have a judge toss the votes. (See Prop 8)
Of course, I’d suspect the American Humanist Association is taking this on to get attention and to raise money. You know, those green rectangles with the words “In God We Trust” on them. I’d bet they’re not turning those away.
HT USA Today.
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