Fredericksburg, Va. ? Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia complained Sunday that courts have gone overboard in keeping God out of government.

Scalia, speaking at a religious ceremony, said the constitutional wall between church and state has been misinterpreted both by the Supreme Court and lower courts.

As an example, he pointed to a ruling in California that barred students from saying the Pledge of Allegiance with the phrase “one nation under God.”

That appeals court decision is on hold pending further consideration by the same court, but the Supreme Court eventually could be asked to review the case.

Scalia, the main speaker at an event for Religious Freedom Day, said rulings by his own court gave the judges in the Pledge case “some plausible support” to reach that conclusion.

However, the justice said he believed such decisions should be made legislatively, not by courts.

The rally-style event drew a lone protester, who silently held a sign promoting the

separation of church and state.

“The sign back here which says ‘Get religion out of government,’ can be imposed on the whole country. I have no problem with that philosophy being adopted democratically. If the gentleman holding the sign would persuade all of you of that, then we could eliminate ‘under God’ from the Pledge of Allegiance. That could be democratically done,” Scalia said.

Scalia used the event to repeat criticisms that the Constitution is being liberally interpreted.

The Constitution says the government cannot “establish” or promote religion, but Scalia said the framers did not intend for God to be stripped from public life.

“That is contrary to our whole tradition, to ‘in God we trust’ on the coins, to (presidential) Thanksgiving proclamations, to (congressional) chaplains, to tax exemption for places of worship, which has always existed in America.”