Pledge of Allegiance Prompts Lawsuit by NJ Family - East Idaho News
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Pledge of Allegiance Prompts Lawsuit by NJ Family

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GETTY 042314 PledgeofAllegiance?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1398250954586iStock/Thinkstock(ABERDEEN, N.J.) — A New Jersey family is suing their local school district, charging that the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance turn atheists into “second-class citizens.”

The suit filed this week against the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District by the Washington, D.C.-based American Humanist Association keeps the identity of the family under wraps because their child attends school there.

Under New Jersey state law, students in all 590 school districts must recite the pledge each day or else stand without speaking.

In response to the suit, Matawan-Aberdeen schools officials say their district is being unfairly singled out, drawing resources away from schools in order to defend their case.

Previous objections to the Pledge of Allegiance have had to do with the separation of church and state. However, this lawsuit is alleging that the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is being violated when one is forced to say “under God.”

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