Replies

Man who sued to stop pledge explains reasons for suit

(06-26) 17:42 PDT ELK GROVE, Calif. (AP) --

Sacramento atheist Michael Newdow said Wednesday he was trying to restore the Pledge of Allegiance to its pre-1954 version because no one should be forced to worship a religion in which they don't believe.

But if the threatening messages on his answering machine are any indication, the American public is not thanking him.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Wednesday the phrase "one nation under God" amounts to a government endorsement of religion in violation of the separation of church and state and can no longer be recited in schools.

The decision was denounced as "ridiculous" by a wide range of people, from President Bush to parents of children who attend Florence Markofer Elementary School, the Elk Grove school where Newdow's daughter was a 2nd-grader.

Newdow, a Sacramento emergency room doctor, said in an interview that "Congress never intended to force people to worship a religion that they don't believe in" when they added the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954.

But Elk Grove parent Kathleen Doncaster, whose daughter attends the school said the Pledge of Allegiance isn't promoting religion.

"It's about being American. He needs to get a hobby," she said.

While Newdow expected the lawsuit would generate some controversy, he said he didn't expect the media attention or the threatening phone calls he experienced Wednesday.

Even though his daughter wasn't forced to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, it was wrong to require her to listen to it when she doesn't believe in it, he said.

A statement from the Elk Grove Unified School District Wednesday said it is disappointed with the decision by the court and plans to take "appropriate appellate action either by petitioning the Supreme Court of the United States of requesting an en banc hearing before the Ninth District."

Until then, teachers and students will continue to recite the Pledge of Allegiance until school administrators ask them not to, said Cheryl Hollis, chapter president of the Elk Grove Education Association that represents district teachers.

"I expect this will be a much challenged and difficult change," she said. "Following 9-11, there are very strong feelings from families about allegiance to America, and there is such diversity in our schools, it will be a difficult change."

Elk Grove is a rapidly growing Sacramento County community of 80,000 people, many of whom are state government or high-tech industry workers. Of the area school system's 40,000 students, 58 percent are minorities.

The school system also draws the sons and daughters of agriculture industry workers who live in the countryside outside the city limits.

Newdow said he is not worried about further action against his case, and should it reach the Supreme Court, he still plans to represent himself, saying, "I have done OK so far."

Still, Newdow said his family and his daughter have been threatened because of the lawsuit. He refused to discuss his daughter, saying only that she was "in a safe place." He also wouldn't say if he was married.

He wouldn't characterize the threats he received, saying only that they were "personal and scary. I could be dead tomorrow.

"Many people who are upset about this are people who just don't understand," he said, sipping fruit punch at his kitchen table. "People have to consider what if they were in the minority religion and the majority religion was overpowering them.

"Justice O'Connor said nobody should be made to feel like an outsider. This is a violation. I feel like I'm not a real American because I won't uphold the pledge," he said.

He filed a similar case in Florida in 1997, seeking to strike the words "in God we trust" from U.S. currency. He said Wednesday's decision is a "hopping off point" for other lawsuits, including one to end family laws, such as those concerning custody.

SO saying a phrase with the word God in it, is forcing ones religon on people? This guy spent 2 much time in the 60's.

He's now denying his suit had anything to do with his daughter, that it was he who objected.

I don't believe for a second he has been threatened. There are phone records, lets see who threatened him and his daughter. If Maddy Murray O'Hare could live long enough to grow old and be murdered for her gold coins...this dope is plenty safe.