OREM — Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff believes a day will come when the U.S. Supreme Court affirms references to God in the Pledge of Allegiance and on currency.

"Ultimately they will decide the matter (of removing references to God) was wrong," Shurtleff said Wednesday at Utah Valley State College.

The top court had a chance in 2004 to comment on the "one nation, under God" part of the pledge. The justices preserved the reference to God — but on a technicality: They ruled that the plaintiff did not have a case because he did not have custody of his children, on whose behalf he sued.

The atheist plaintiff "refiled that case, and now he's filing a suit for the government to withdraw 'in God we trust' from the coins," Shurtleff said.

"My feeling is he's trying to force his beliefs on the rest of us."

Shurtleff, a Republican, spoke to members of the College Republicans at a rally promoting the American flag, prayer in government meetings and the inclusion of God in the Pledge of Allegiance — all of which the attorney general said he supports.

"That's not true for all politicians," Shurtleff said.

Critics of such references to God in public meetings say they violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment that keeps religion out of government.

Shurtleff, however, prefers to focus on the First Amendment's right of free speech. If religious references are removed from government, then people's speech is infringed, he said.

People pray in public life because they want to "recognize the hand of God in the founding of this nation," he said.

However, he noted that all 50 attorneys general wrote letters protesting the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' decision to ban "under God" from the pledge before the case went to the Supreme Court in 2004.

"What was unique was that 50 AGs — we're talking every party — believed the 9th Circuit was wrong legally," he said.

Pride for the U.S. flag reached a zenith after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Shurtleff said.

He recalled a time after the terrorist attacks when he had to reassure his children that it was safe to go outside and be with other people.

"Just look outside, the flag was still flying," he said.

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com