Free Republic

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A federal judge on Wednesday set the stage for an atheist and three Sacramento-area school districts to take their dispute over the Pledge of Allegiance to an appeals court. U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton said he will stay a ruling made last month, meaning the schools can continue having children recite the pledge. In his previous finding, Karlton said he was bound by a 2002 ruling of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that the pledge is unconstitutional when recited in public schools because it contains the words "under God." That lawsuit was...