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Michael Newdow's daughter "loves the Lord," says pastor Chuck Smith
Conservative online media are abuzz this week with word that the second-grade daughter of atheist Michael Newdow, who sued a California school district over the Pledge of Allegiance on her behalf, wasn't troubled by the words "Under God" in the Pledge at all. "The little girl, over whom the suit was filed, happens to attend Calvary Chapel, in Elk Grove," Pastor Chuck Smith told his congregation at Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California. "She is Christian, her mother is a Christian . …This whole suit was filed on a totally false premise." (Audio of many of Smith's sermons are available here, but Sunday night's sermon hasn't been posted yet.)

The story was apparently first reported by CPINews.net, then picked up by WorldNetDaily. It doesn't appear to have hit the mainstream media yet, though the child's mother, Sandra Banning, was reportedly scheduled for an appearance on CBS's Early Show.

"[Newdow] lied to the court under oath. This is a crime," Austin Miles says in an Assist News Service commentary. "The public must demand that The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco charge Michael Newdow with perjury and punish him to the full extent of the law."

Perjury charges or not, legal scholars were already doubting whether Newdow had sufficient standing to file the suit. This development increases the chances the appeal will be decided on standing rather than on the merits of the case. The full 9th Circuit or the Supreme Court wouldn't have to decide whether "Under God" violates the First Amendment's prohibition on establishing religion. It could just say that Newdow didn't have the right to file the suit.

• The judge the Supreme Court loves to overturn | Judge Stephen Reinhardt was notorious long before his 9th Circuit's Pledge of Allegiance decision (The Weekly Standard, May 5, 1997)
• Allegiance to the pledge | Authority says it always has been a political football (The Baltimore Sun)
• Missouri requires Pledge of Allegiance | Must be recited at least once per week—with "under God"—in the schools (Associated Press)
• Church-state line is still blurred after rulings | Decisions on the Pledge of Allegiance and school vouchers continue a tradition of debate as old as the nation itself (Los Angeles Times)
• State will fight for Pledge | Government: Idaho officials, public rally against appeals court ruling (Idaho Press-Tribune, Nampa)

• The founders and God | The last thing the founders of the American republic wanted was a public square scrubbed free of God (Jeff Jacoby, The Boston Globe)
• The pledge fireworks | For all the wrangling and strife and the culture wars, I'm most proud when we manage to define and defend our diversity as all-American (Ellen Goodman, The Boston Globe)
• No independence from God | Whether we acknowledge God's presence in the world, God is nonetheless in our very midst, actively involved in everyday life (Timothy E. Schenck, The Baltimore Sun)
• At least apple pie still all-American and inoffensive | Are any symbols of American self-identity still without controversy? (Laura Billings, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.)
• The pledge flap: Let's brush up our civics | Many of us need to relearn that respecting the flag means respecting the rights of others, even those with whom we deeply disagree (Charles Haynes, Freedom Forum)
• Having it their way, or no way | Burger King democrats insist that they, and they alone, have a constitutional right to have things their way (Peter Rowe, The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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July (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46