N.J. Judge Weighs Going Forward With Pledge of Allegiance Lawsuit

 A New Jersey superior court judge announced this week that he will soon decide whether to proceed with a case that argues the Pledge of Allegiance unfairly discriminates against children who lack religious beliefs.

After hearing arguments of the case brought on by a family against a New Jersey school district, Monmouth County Superior Court Judge David Bauman said he will decide whether to dismiss the lawsuit or go forward with it.

The lawsuit was brought on by parents, with the help of the American Humanist Association, against the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District. The national atheist organization argues in the lawsuit that use of the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance are discriminatory toward atheist students, making them feel alienated. The school district has asked Bauman to dismiss the lawsuit.

"Public schools should not engage in an exercise that tells students that patriotism is tied to a belief in God," David Niose, an attorney for the American Humanist Association's Appignani Humanist Legal Center, told Fox News. "Such a daily exercise portrays atheist and humanist children as second-class citizens, and certainly contributes to anti-atheist prejudices."

Although Bauman has yet to make a decision, he reportedly said during the arguments that there appears to be no evidence that a child who refused to say the pledge was bullied or mistreated in any way. Children are allowed to not say the pledge if they wish.

David B. Rubin, an attorney for the school district, reportedly requested the lawsuit be dismissed on the grounds that a student's civil rights are not being violated because they are not required to say the pledge.

"There's not been a requirement or a prohibition from doing anything,'' Rubin told Bauman, according to USA Today.