The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, has rejected two legal challenges brought by Michael Newdow, a doctor who says the references to God in the pledge of allegiance, and on the US currency, violate his constitutional rights as a non-believer.
The same court supported his claim on the pledge of allegiance in 2002. It ruled that the reference “under God” in the pledge violated the First Amendment prohibition against government endorsement of religion.
The ruling caused a storm of protest across the United States and many accused the court of judicial activism.
President George W Bush called the 2002 decision "ridiculous," senators passed a resolution condemning the ruling, and Newdow received death threats from some extremists.
The lawsuit reached the Supreme Court in 2004, but was rejected on the grounds that Newdow did not have custody of his daughter, and the lawsuit was filed on her behalf so that she would not need to recite the religious part of the pledge at school.
Dr Newdow, of Sacremento, then filed an identical challenge on behalf of other parents who objected to the recitation of the pledge at school. In 2005, a federal judge in Sacramento ruled in Dr Newdow's favour, prompting the appeals court to take up the case again.
Judge Carlos Bea, appointed by Bush in 2003, wrote for the majority in Thursday's 2-1 ruling.
"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," he said.
However, the reference “under God” in the pledge of allegiance, is not part of the ideals upon which the US was based, it was a line inserted into the pledge in a 1954 federal law, during the paranoid years of the Cold War when the US Congress wanted to set the country apart from the “godless communists”.
Dr Newborn said "I hope people recognise this is not against God or people who believe in God. It's about the government not treating people equally on the basis of their lawful religious views."
In a separate 3-0 ruling Thursday, the appeals court upheld the inscription of the national motto "In God We Trust" on US coins and currency, citing an earlier 9th Circuit panel that ruled the phrase is ceremonial and patriotic and "has nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion."
Most schools in the US do not require students to recite the pledge of allegiance.
