Court OKs Pledge of Allegiance, use of 'God' on money as constitutional

clipped from content.usatoday.com Noormah Zubair touches her heart as she recites the Pledge of Allegiance along with other 3rd graders at Herndon Elementary School in 2004. CAPTION By Tim Loehrke, USA Today A federal appeals court has upheld references to God on U.S. currency and in the Pledge of Allegiance, rejecting arguments that they violate the constitutional separation of church and state, the Associated Press reports. The ruling was a reversal of the same court's controversial decision in 2002 that the pledge violated the First Amendment ban on government endorsement of religion. "The Pledge of Allegiance serves to unite our vast nation through the proud recitation of some of the ideals upon which our Republic was founded," In a separate 3-0 decision, the appeals court upheld the use of the phrase "In God We Trust" on U.S. coins and currency, citing the court's  earlier  ruling that the phrase is ceremonial and patriotic and "has nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion."

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