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The Knights of Columbus, which is among the defendants in Newdow v. Congress of the United States, et al., will immediately appeal the Sept. 14 decision by U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton, holding that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in school is unconstitutional.
Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson said that "if freedom of religion in America means anything at all, it means that it's just as constitutional to recite the Pledge of Allegiance -- complete with the words "under God" -- as it is to read aloud the Declaration of Independence. They both express the same truth: that our fundamental rights come from God, our creator, and not from government. To suggest that the language of the First Amendment prohibits the simple statement of that truth is to stand the constitution on its head."
The Knights of Columbus was instrumental in persuading Congress to insert the words "under God" in the Pledge in 1954.
When Newdow's previous lawsuit was heard by the Supreme Court last year, the Knights of Columbus weighed in on the case as a "friend of the court." This year, when he filed a new lawsuit, the Knights asked the court to permit it to join the case as a defendant, and the request was granted. The Knights of Columbus is represented in the case by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public interest law firm that protects the religious freedom of people of all faiths.
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