Judge delays ban on US pledge

The oath has been part of school life for generations

The judge who ruled America's Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional because it talked of a nation "under God" has pulled back from his controversial decision.

Circuit Judge Alfred T Goodwin has stayed the verdict - which could have banned millions of schoolchildren in nine states reciting the patriotic oath - until his appeals court has decided whether to reconsider it.

The Bush administration has asked for a new hearing to reverse the ruling

The 2-1 ruling that the pledge was unconstitutional because it violated the basic separation between Church and State has been greeted with derision, disbelief and anger across the US, from the president down.

Demands have been growing for the ruling to be overturned and Attorney General John Ashcroft has asked for a full hearing in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Judge Goodwin, the senior judge in the case who wrote the ruling upholding a Californian atheist's case for the pledge to be outlawed in schools, blocked his decision 24 hours later.

Daily routine

The unusual move - announced without explanation - allows the full appeals court to hear the case and delays the ban on the pledge, though it had already been on hold for 45 days in the original ruling.

Millions of US children face the national flag, put their right hand on their hearts and recite the pledge at the start of every school day.

In his verdict, Judge Goodwin said the phrase "under God" which was added to the pledge in 1954 was unconstitutional because it represented "a profession of religious belief, namely monotheism".

Reaction against the ruling was swift among America's politicians, many of whom recited the 110-year-old oath - complete with the 1954 addition.

President George W Bush, who said the decision was "ridiculous" when he was told of it at the G8 Summit in Canada, complained that it was out of step with the traditions and history of America.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all

Pledge of Allegiance

The president, a Methodist, said: "We need common sense judges who understand that our rights were derived from God.

"Those are the kind of judges I intend to put on the bench."

Attorney General John Ashcroft said he wanted a full hearing by an 11-member panel.

"The Justice Department will defend the ability of our nation's children to pledge allegiance to the American flag," he said.

Members packed into the Senate chamber and House of Representatives to give rousing renditions of the pledge.

The ruling raised the spectre of having to remove any reference to a god in other areas of American life, such as national anthems and even the currency for each banknote carries the words "In God We Trust".