The federal government of the united states inserted "in god we trust" on the currency and inserted "under god" to the pledge in the same year, during the red scare, with congress' stated intent being to acknowledge "the creator". Every supreme court session must begin with the prayer "God save the United States and this honorable court". These, taken together, amount to an official declaration that there is a singular god. This is tantamount to an establishment of monotheism. The language excludes polytheists, atheists, agnostics, nonreligious people, and nontheistic religions like Buddhism, which taken together account for almost half of the world's population.

In Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow SCOTUS chickened out of considering the merits this case, unanimously overturning the ninth circuit ruling that Newdow had standing to sue on behalf of his child despite lack of custody. However if you listen to the oral arguments, they are far from unanimous. Some seemed like they might be receptive to Newdow's case if the standing issue were resolved.

Newdow is trying again to have "under god" removed from the pledge of allegiance, representing a group of parents who have definite custody of their children. Simultaneously he is targeting the equally unconstitutional "in god we trust" motto on the currency. These cases were heard in December of 2007 at the ninth circuit.

Some have argued that the pledge and the motto have "no religious content" which is a bit like saying that a declaration that we are on land has no geographical content. It is false, and if taken seriously reeks of provincialism and ignorance of alternative beliefs. I would like to see them use the same argument to defend the pledge and the motto if they instead said "under no god" and "in no god we trust", and SCOTUS had to start every session with "No god can intervene in the United States or this honorable court". Those would be declared unconstitutional in a jiffy. The double standard is indefensible.

Most republicans are already under the impression that the United States is a Christian Nation. It's time to give them a history lesson and make the government neutral on matters of religion as the Establishment Clause of the first amendment requires.