SAN
FRANCISCO, Aug 10 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) -The U.S.
government has formally filed an appeal of a California court ruling
that the "under God" phrase in the pledge of allegiance
violates the Constitutional separation of church and state.
The
original ruling, rendered in June, created uproar in a nation
bristling with patriotism after the terrorist attacks of last
September 11.
Attorneys
for the U.S. Department of Justice are asking for a rehearing on the
case before a full panel - called en banc - of the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Government
attorneys argue in their en banc petition that the original ruling
ignored previous court cases, which held that the "under
God" clause was a "ceremonial reference" to religion
and did not establish a religion preference by the government.
U.S.
attorneys also argued that the father of the girl who brought the
lawsuit to ban the phrase lacked standing because schools do not
require students to say the pledge.
On
June 27, U.S. Appeals Court Judge Alfred Goodwin put on hold a ruling
by a three-member panel of the left-leaning U.S. Court of Appeals for
the 9th Circuit of Northern California that the pledge was
unconstitutional violation of separating of church and state.
Sandra
Banning, the mother of the girl mentioned in the case, went to the
federal court with her attorney, Paul Sullivan, earlier this week to
file a motion to intervene in the Appeals Court.
Banning
said she differs with her husband’s view and wants her daughter to
be able to recite the pledge, exactly as it stands, as part of her
education. Banning said neither she nor her daughter believes there is
anything wrong with reciting the words "under God" in the
pledge, news agencies reported.
The
original ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by California
doctor Michael Newdow, a 49-year-old atheist who wanted to prevent his
eight-year-old daughter from being pressured to say the pledge in her
public school class each morning.
The
pledge states: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation,
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
The
"under God" clause was added to the 1892 pledge by then U.S.
president Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954 during the anti-communist Cold
War fervor of the United States.
U.S.
politicians, political commentators and others have condemned the
original ruling against the "under God" clause as an example
of a runaway judiciary.
U.S.
President George W. Bush said the ruling was "out of step with
the traditions and history of America."
