[ OUR OPINION ]
It's likely that a lawsuit demanding that McKinley High School remove the phrase "Love of God" from its honor code will be rejected by the U.S. District Court in which it has been filed. The code is displayed in classrooms and is mentioned in the school handbook, but is considered voluntary and imposes no specific religious doctrine on anyone. Moreover, given the history of court decisions upholding the constitutionality of mottos such as "In God We Trust," this challenge stands little chance of succeeding. McKinley code stays
within acceptable bounds
THE ISSUE The ACLU has filed a lawsuit demanding that the phrase "Love of God" be stricken from the code of a public high school.
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed the suit on behalf of McKinley student James Ornellas, an agnostic who asserts that the honor code endorses "the monotheistic concept of the Christian or Jewish 'God.'" Ornellas contends: "I think the honor code violates students' freedom to form their own religious beliefs, without being told by the school what they should believe."
A spokesman for the Department of Education said it and the Attorney General's Office would defend the code.
They will have a long history of public tradition and legal precedence to bring to the fight. The United States Supreme Court, which itself opens each session chanting "God save the United States and this honorable court," has repeatedly ruled that such expressions are permitted under the First Amendment, which precludes the government from establishing a religion. More than a century ago, the high court stated that "this is a religious nation" and has not strayed far from that philosophy.
Even the U.S. Supreme Court's 1962 decision eliminating organized prayer in schools commented that it was not "inconsistent with the fact that school children and others are officially encouraged to express love for country by reciting historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence, which contain references to deity, or by singing officially espoused anthems, which contain the composer's professions of faith in a supreme being."
Such references also are frequent in Hawaii's public life; legislative sessions open with a chant from a Hawaiian priest seeking a blessing.
In a ruling last month, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals declared that the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance violate the Constitution. That case is headed toward the high court but, for the same reasons outlined here, is unlikely to be upheld. As we said in an editorial on that ruling, a fine line separates rote references to deities, such as the "In God we trust" national motto stamped on currency, and proselytizing to schoolchildren. The McKinley High School Code of Honor doesn't cross that line.
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