A family wishing to remain nameless is suing the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District and its superintendent to get the "under God" phrase removed from the Pledge of Allegiance that students recite in school everyday.

The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court in Monmoth County (New Jersey), along with the American Humanist Association says that the phrase "under God" in the pledge of allegiance is discrimination against atheists and that it violates the New Jersey constitution.

The attorney for the school district says the schools are just following that state law that requires to recite the Pledge of Allegiance everyday.

"All we are doing is abiding by requirements of state law, we and approximately 590 other school districts in the state," said the attorney, David Rubin.

Rubin advises the group who brought the lawsuit against the district to express their concern with the state Legislature rather than suing the school district.

The American Humanist Association that is participating with the family in the lawsuit is a nonprofit organization that helps protect the rights of atheists, humanists and nonreligious Americans. They have almost 25,000 members and 180 chapters nationwide.

Students in the Matawan-Abderdeen district, which includes five elementary schools, a middle school and a high school, are not required to participate in the pledge if they object to it and cannot be forced to do so.

The lawsuit claims that those who are atheists, or those who prefer not to participate in the pledge, are seen as outsiders which forces children to choose participating in something they don't wish to.

The suit refers to the parents as John and Jane Doe and the child as Doechild. No information about which school in the district the child attends is being released either.

If the lawsuit is successful, the words "under God" as part of the Pledge of Allegiance will be deemed as unconstitutional and discriminatory. From there, schools could stop requiring the reciting of the pledge or they could remove "under God" from the pledge.

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892. In 1954, the "under God" phrase was added.

"It's not the place of state governments to take a position on God-belief," Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the association, said in the news release. "The current pledge practice marginalizes atheist and humanist kids as something less than ideal patriots, merely because they don't believe the nation is under God."