'Pledge' Mom: My Daughter Is No Atheist
COSBY: And just one quick question before we go to the break, Sandy — there's some interesting stuff that has never been reported before, about Michael Newdow's background, his religious background. Tell me about his family — because his family, they're not atheists, right?
BANNING: It's my understanding that his parents are atheists but he — he was raised — a Jewish background, Glen [their daughter] and he celebrate Hannukah and Passover together.
COSBY: So he and your daughter celebrate Passover?
BANNING: Correct.
COSBY: And he doesn't oppose that?
BANNING: No, he doesn't. And she celebrates the traditional Jewish holidays with him.
COSBY: So how can he reconcile that — if he can say it's okay to celebrate Passover, but then saying your daughter can't say "under God?"
BANNING: Well, I'm not really sure how he reconciles that. I — you know, there's lots of folks that you know, participate in Christmas but that doesn't make them a Christian, that doesn't exclude the children from participating in a very you know ... it's actually a very religious holiday, but maybe it's not religious in their home.
COSBY: Do you feel he's being somewhat contradictory though, and some would say that?
BANNING: Possibly. But I think that it's important that my daughter learn about her family heritage and she needs to know about her family history, it's very important.
COSBY: Sandy Banning, please stay with us, we're just going to take a short break and we'll have more with you after this commercial break. An incredible story, told for the first time, this is the mother of the little girl at the center of the storm — her father just recently won that case making the Pledge of the Allegiance unconstitutional. We'll have her first-ever exclusive interview and continue with her right after this break