Texas Parents Challenge “Under God” In North Texas
The following article is from OneNewsNow:
The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is considering arguments in a Texas Pledge of Allegiance lawsuit.
Two families in North Texas filed suit objecting to the phrase “under God” in the Pledge, which is recited daily in Texas public schools. The parents contend that inclusion of the phrase violates the First Amendment. But since 2007, when the Pledge was amended to include the phrase, Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office has worked to keep it that way.
“The U.S. Supreme Court [and] other courts of appeals have recognized that the Pledge of Allegiance is a patriotic exercise; it’s not a religious one. The references to ‘under God’ in the Pledge serve a legitimate secular purpose of promoting patriotism,” explains attorney Jeff Mateer of the Liberty Institute, the firm which helped argue the case.
The atheist parents who filed the lawsuit are the same ones who previously sued to ban the moment of silence at the beginning of public school days. Though the court ruled against their argument in that case, Mateer believes these families are simply trying to bulldoze Christianity out of any public forum.
“They clearly have an agenda in which they are trying to use the courts to somehow take any reference to God out of the public schools,” he suspects.
A ruling should be reached over the next several weeks.
By Charlie Butts – OneNewsNow
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