Michael Newdow, the militant atheist, has lost a round in court regarding the use of the motto "In God We Trust" on our coinage.

A federal judge on Monday rejected a lawsuit from an atheist who said having the phrase "In God We Trust" on U.S. coins and dollar bills violated his First Amendment rights.

U.S. District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr. said the minted words amounted to a secular national slogan that did not trample on Michael Newdow's avowed religious views.

Newdow, a Sacramento doctor and lawyer, also is engaged in an ongoing effort to have the Pledge of Allegiance banned from public schools because it contains the words "under God."

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Newdow's "In God We Trust" lawsuit targeted Congress and several federal officials, claiming that by making money with the phrase on it the government was establishing a religion in violation of the First Amendment clause requiring separation of church and state.

The phrase "excludes people who don't believe in God," he claimed.

Damrell disagreed, citing a 9th Circuit decision from 1970 that concluded the four words were a national motto that had "nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion."

Newdow said Monday he would appeal.

Now this should be interesting -- the Ninth Circuit will have to overturn its own precedent to decide in his favor. Not that such an outcome is inconceivable, given the overturning of long-standing precedents by other courts to reach decisions favorable to consensual sodomy, homosexual marriage, and other pet notions of the Left. This will end up in the Supreme Court -- and if previous precedents hold, Newdow and his suit wil get rejecected.

MORE AT Right on the Left Coast, Stop the ACLU

Posted by: Greg at 10:55 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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