Pledge of Allegiance Faces Another Legal Challenge

Atheist couple claims "Under God" invocation makes them second-class citizens

For the fourth time in the past decade, the Pledge of Allegiance will be before an appellate court on Wednesday, and the phrase "under God" is again at the heart of the challenge.

But the hearing before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has a different twist. Instead of a making a First Amendment religious violation claim, an anonymous atheist couple says the compulsory recitation of the pledge violates the state's equal protection laws, reports the Christian Post.

"It makes us appear as second class citizens just because we believe something different from the majority," said Roy Speckhardt, executive director for the American Humanist Association, which filed the lawsuit.