State's Supreme Court to Hear Suit Against 'Under God' in Pledge

The Massachusetts Supreme Court is considering an atheist family's suit against the Acton-Boxborough Regional School District that grabbed national attention last year, The Christian Post Reporter is reporting.

The atheist Acton family, which has chosen to remain anonymous, sued the district, and Superintendent Stephen Mills, last June, declaring that saying “one nation under God” during the Pledge of Allegiance discriminates against their children.

The Massachusetts Supreme Court recently announced that it would hear arguments in early May.

One of the plaintiffs in the case is the American Humanist Association, with its legal branch the Appignani Humanist Legal Center helping to bring the suit forward, according to The CPR.

According to a June Boston.com report, Superior Court Judge S. Jane Judge Haggerty concluded that the pledge in schools are "clearly designed to inculcate patriotism and to instill a recognition of the blessings conferred by orderly government under the constitutions of the State and nation."

In a statement, Superintendent Mills said that "school districts have maintained throughout this lawsuit that we have not engaged in unlawful discrimination against its students, specifically with respect to their religious beliefs as was alleged in this case."