Land of the Pagan Gods

Somewhat "inspired" by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal's infamous Pledge of Allegiance decision , a guy calls me today to ask if the California State Seal can also be regarded as unconstitutional since it contains a drawing of a Roman goddess named Minerva. Good question. However, in light of the Ninth Circuit's decision in Alvarado v. San Jose, where a city commissioned statue of an Aztec god named Quetzalcoatl was found not to be a violation of Establishment Clause, the State Seal is probably safe. Nice try, though.