A US federal appeals court has found the US Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional, saying it was illegal to ask schoolchildren to vow loyalty to one nation "under God."
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned a 1954 Act of Congress that added "under God" to the pledge, saying the words violated the basic Constitutional tenet of separation of church and state.
"The text of the official Pledge, codified in federal law, impermissibly takes a position with respect to the purely religious question of the existence and identity of God," the court's three judge panel wrote.
"A profession that we are a nation 'under God' is identical ... to a profession that we are a nation 'under Jesus,' a nation 'under Vishnu,' a nation 'under Zeus,' or a nation 'under no god,"' it said.
The court's ruling, the first of its kind, overturned a lower court ruling that dismissed a case against the Pledge brought by the father of a schoolgirl.
