Charles C. Haynes: Patriotic or religious, ‘under God’ is here to stay

  The long, bitter and emotional legal battle over “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance may have come to a quiet end on March 11.

  That’s the day a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided by a 2-1 vote that “the Pledge is constitutional.” The ruling in Newdow v. Rio Linda Union School Dist. was greeted with a big yawn by the news media — and virtual silence on Capitol Hill.

  Eight years ago, this same court sparked a very different reaction when it ruled the other way, striking down the use of the Pledge in public schools because it includes the phrase “under God.” Cable news channels declared a national emergency and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Washington, D.C., lined up to defend God.