A senior trial attorney for the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy says the fact that atheist Michael Newdow, who claims the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional, will have part of his case thrown out of federal court is only partly good news.
Judge Lawrence Karlton says he will allow Michael Newdow to sue four California school districts on behalf of four children, challenging their schools about recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. However, the judge says he will throw out the atheist activist's case against the Pledge itself and the words "under God."
The AFA Law Center's Brian Fahling notes that Judge Karlton has narrowed the potential for damage by limiting the scope of Newdow's legal action. Nevertheless, the attorney contends the potential for harm is still there.
"Federal courts are famous for sniffing out a religious purpose, an endorsement of religion, where no reasonable mind could otherwise find it," he asserts.
Fahling says while he does not want to be unduly pessimistic, he has "not a lot of optimism" in light of how federal jurists have behaved concerning public faith expression and establishment clause issues in the past. "Anytime you get a federal court involved in these things," he notes, "the danger is high that you're going to see another blow against religion or Christianity in particular."
The pro-family lawyer feels the Pledge of Allegiance issue is one that could have a profound impact on America's next generation. "Merely reciting the Pledge with the words 'under God,' in and of itself, may not appear to be all that important to people," he says. But that simple phrase, he insists, matters much more than many people may think.
"It carries with it some symbolic significance that I think does have value," Fahling says, "and it does point school children to their Creator, to the idea of transcendence - that God is larger than them and that they aren't all there is."
If Newdow wins his case, Fahling warns, it will mean another symbol of America's Judeo-Christian heritage removed from the public school classroom.
The negative impact of such a removal, he asserts, will be similar to the cascading effects of prayer being taken out of U.S. schools decades ago - a move which, the AFA attorney points out, has adversely affected the moral tone of American society.
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
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