LAW OF THE LAND
Girl's Christianity potential factor
in arguments before entire court

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Posted: July 9, 2002
By Diana Lynne
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© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com

The judge who rendered the controversial opinion for the U.S. Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals - that "under God" in the Pledge
of Allegiance is unconstitutional - will not have the last word.

A Justice Department official who does not wish to be named tells
WorldNetDaily the U.S. solicitor general has decided to
authorize a rehearing before the full court, essentially giving the
government a green light to appeal the three-judge decision
before it had even filed a request to do so.

Justice spokesman Charles Miller said he could not confirm the
information but added, "Attorney General John Ashcroft stated
the Justice Department would request a rehearing en banc by the full Ninth
Circuit. He's the boss of the solicitor general. So I'm
assuming the solicitor general will approve of it."

The government has until early August to file the request. In the
meantime, WorldNetDaily has learned the recent revelation
that the daughter of the plaintiff is a churchgoing Christian who
voluntarily says 'under God' in the pledge may potentially help the
government's case.

As WorldNetDaily reported last week, Sacramento atheist activist
Michael Newdow mounted the now-infamous legal challenge
against Congress for inserting the phrase "under God" in the pledge in 1954,
and against the Elk Grove Unified School District for
its policy to have teachers lead students in reciting the pledge in class.

Newdow filed the case on behalf of his 8-year-old, whom he told the
Associated Press he is raising as an atheist.

"It's my parental right to keep the government off my child," AP
quoted Newdow as saying.

In the suit, Newdow claims that his daughter is injured when she is
compelled to "watch and listen as her state-employed
teacher in her state-run school leads her classmates in a ritual proclaiming
that there is a God, and that our's [sic] is 'one nation under God.'"

But Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, Calif.
contends Newdow's argument is fraudulent. According to Smith,
the second-grader and her mother, Sandra Banning, not only attend Calvary
Chapel at Laguna Creek in their home town of Elk Grove,
Calif., but Banning teaches Sunday School there.

"The little girl, as I understand, was never offended by 'under God'
because she does believe in God," Smith told
WorldNetDaily. "I understand when the decision came down, the little girl
came home and said to her mother, 'Well momma, I guess we
can't say under God anymore,' and then she decided she could say it under
her breath and no one would know the difference,'" said Smith.

Court records show Newdow and Banning embroiled in a custody battle
over the daughter. Calls to both were not returned.

"I believe people need to know the truth," said Smith. "I think we
need to know the agenda of the liberal court, that they
would make a decision predicated on the little girl being offended when, in
fact, she never was. ... They made a decision without
delving into the truth of the story. It would appear to me they don't want
the truth of the story, but rather they want a
hypothetical case upon which to make the decision."

According to the Justice official, Newdow had to show standing in the
case by showing that he's been injured. He did so by
asserting his daughter has been injured and he has an interest in directing
her education as a parent. Judge Alfred Goodwin wrote in
the majority opinion, "Newdow has standing as a parent to challenge a
practice that interferes with his right to direct the
religious education of his daughter."

Could the case be considered a fraud, as Pastor Smith suggests?
According to the Justice official, it would be fraud only if
Newdow said something knowingly false.

Fox News reports Newdow admitted that his 8-year-old daughter
voluntarily says the pledge along with her classmates in an
interview following the ruling.

"This is more about me than her. I'd like to keep her out of this,"
Fox quoted Newdow as saying.

But Smith and other pastors throughout California are determined to
keep the girl's reported love for God front and center by
mounting a publicity campaign to win the case in the court of public
opinion.

"The daughter has said she disagrees totally with what the father is
doing," Pastor Wiley Drake of First Southern Baptist
Church of Buena Park told WorldNetDaily. "I'm upset and I hope there will be
others who are upset. It's time for God lovers to stand
up and fight the God haters."

As WND reported, Drake led a hundred demonstrators in a four-hour
rally outside of Judge Goodwin's Pasadena house last week to
protest the court ruling. Drake plans a similar event outside Judge Stephen
Reinhardt's Marina Del Rey, Calif. home on Saturday.
Reinhardt joined Goodwin in the 2-1 decision.

"Reinhardt is a renegade judge and his wife is Ramona Ripston, the
executive director of the ACLU in Southern Calif.," said
Drake. "The ACLU has always tried to get rid of God."