Michael Newdow, best known for opposing the use of the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance and for bringing the case to the Supreme Court in 2004, spoke Tuesday night in a lecture entitled “Seeking Liberty and Justice for All: The Story of the Pledge of Allegiance Case.”

“People sometimes portray this as atheist versus theist,” Newdow said. “I’m not an atheist activist. I’m an establishment clause activist. I’m against treating people unequally.”

Newdow graduated from Brown University, the UCLA School of Medicine, and University of Michigan Law School.

According to his website, restorethepledge.com, he became an ordained minister in 1977, and in 1997 founded the First Amendment Church of True Science (FACTS).

“Newdow achieved a great deal of public awareness when he filed the lawsuit Newdow v. Elk Grove,” said Professor of Government John Finn. “He objected constitutionally to the fact that his daughter would have to say the Pledge of Allegiance with the words ‘under God.’ This is not an example of Constitutional Law in the abstract, but how Constitutional Law actually gets made.”

“Under God” was not found in the original version of the pledge, composed in 1892. It was added in 1954.

“We had the pledge during two world wars, and it did quite well, but in the McCarthy era, they interlarded it with ‘under God,’” Newdow said.

He pointed out that in the founding documents of the United States of America, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, do not contain any mention of God, but they do include guarantees of equality for all people. According to Newdow, included in the establishment clause the pledge is a violation of universal equality.

Newdow’s opponents believe that it is a tradition for “God” to be inserted into political documents. For example, when the president takes the Oath of Office, it is common for the inaugurate to add, “So help me God.”

“Everyone will tell you that George Washington put ‘So help me God’ in there, but that’s a myth,” Newdow said. “I researched it for three months, and i”f you go through all of the inaugurations, the first person to say it was Warren G. Harding in 1921. The tradition is not true.“

Newdow told the audience that he is overwhelmed by the abundance of words beginning with the letter C that are used to describe the United States’ history.

”You have the Colonial era, the Continental Congresses, the Articles of Confederation, the Constitutional Convention,“ Newdow said. ”It’s really quite confusing. Just think about who discovered this place: Christopher Columbus, who comes to this new continent where communities congregate and coalesce into colonies such as Connecticut and the Carolinas.’

He continued to relay the events from colonization to the creation of the Constitution through alliteration.

Aside from being an accomplished orator, Newdow is also a singer-songwriter. He presented two of his songs during the lecture.

The first was a tune about the inaugural use of “So help me God,” and the other was a melody about the Ten Commandments rock that was placed in the Alabama judicial building several years ago.

Newdow’s next project is challenging the placement of “In God We Trust” upon American currency.

“I’m an atheist,” he said. “I don’t believe in God, so why does my money have to say that?”

He also has a case alive in the Supreme Court opposing the use of prayer at presidential inaugurations.

When asked if he was concerned about Americans’ reactions if his changes are made to the pledge and our currency, Newdow gave an honest response.

“As far as backlash, the ACLU has research to back that there will be some, and I question that,” he said. “I think that if you ask every American if they want equality based on religion, you will hear ‘yes,’ overwhelmingly. They’re just not asking the right question.”

Newdow was brought to campus in conjunction with a grant created by Leonard Halpert ’44 that supports first amendment education on campus.

“Constitutional law is important in the matter of simple citizenship,” Finn said. “The Supreme Court and other actors make decisions that affect our lives. There are Constitutional politics in the real world, and the advantage of these speakers is that they bring new perspectives to campus.”