Girl Scout Promise to ‘Serve God’ Challenged : Suit: On behalf of a 6-year-old girl, James Randall files action similar to the one in which he represented his twin sons after they were ejected from Boy Scouts.

The Orange County father who sued the Boy Scouts after they ejected his sons because they refused to declare a belief in God has filed a similar action against the Girl Scouts.

James Randall of Anaheim, who is a lawyer, is representing a 6-year-old Calexico girl and her father in their suit challenging the Girl Scouts of America’s pledge to “serve God.”

Superior Court Judge Barbara Gamer issued a temporary restraining order late Tuesday allowing Nitzya Cuevas-Macias to participate in Scouting activities after she and her father, Salvador, alleged that a troop meeting was canceled to keep her out.

The suit against the national Scouting organization claims that the “Girl Scouts Promise”--a pledge that all new members must recite--is unconstitutional because it is a “religious test oath.”

The family also alleges that the pledge violates a California anti-discrimination law known as the Unruh Act.

Cuevas-Macias said his daughter told him last week that “she doesn’t feel comfortable to be in the organization.” He said he and his wife are educating their children “that God doesn’t exist.”

In Orange County, Superior Court Judge Richard O. Frazee Sr. ruled on June 30 that the Orange County Council of the Boy Scouts cannot exclude the 10-year-old Randall twins from fully participating in Scouting activities if they refuse to recite an oath containing the word God .

Randall said he filed the lawsuit against the Girl Scouts after the national organization kept its policy unchanged after several weeks of negotiation.

According to the lawsuit, the girl’s parents “contend that their daughter does not know the meaning of the word God and this causes considerable problems, including questioning whether one can promise to ‘serve God’ when one does not know who or what ‘God’ is.”

The lawsuit contends that Girl Scout organizations in other countries--including France, Germany, the Netherlands and Pakistan--allow young members to avoid making pledges to God.

Attorneys from New York who represent the Girl Scouts of America did not attend Tuesday’s hearing. Randall said he notified them of the lawsuit on Monday.

Guylyn Remmenga Cummins, who represents the San Diego-Imperial Council of the Girl Scouts, declined to comment after the temporary restraining order was issued, because the council is not a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

“Since the Girl Scouts of America are the ones who set the policy, the person to be sued, the entity to be sued, is the Girl Scouts of America,” Randall said.

A hearing will be held Tuesday to determine if a preliminary injunction should be granted that would allow the girl to participate in Scouting.

In the wake of several lawsuits against the Boy Scouts, including the case in Orange County, two major companies--Levi Strauss Co. and Wells Fargo Co.--stopped contributing to the organization because of its refusal to admit atheists or allow homosexuals to be Scoutmasters. A group of Orange County conservatives has launched a boycott of the two firms in order to rally support for the Boy Scouts.