The Pledge: Here We Go Again . . .

A federal district court in California has ruled that the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools violates the First Amendment because it coerces school-children to "affirm God."  Here is a news story about the case.  Here is another.  And here, thanks to Howard Bashman, is the opinion.

As the Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis humanae, makes clear, coercion in matters of religion is inconsistent with human dignity.  So, I have to say, I prefer to see courts analyzing cases like this in terms of "coercion" than to have them speculate about whether "reasonable people" would perceive in challenged state actions government "endorsement" of religion.  That said, I am confident that reviewing courts will not affirm the district court's conclusion that the (voluntary) recitation of the Pledge involves unconstitutional (or immoral) coercion.

Rick