Central to early challenges were Jehovah's Witnesses, a group whose beliefs preclude swearing loyalty to any power lesser than God. In the 1940 Supreme Court case "Minersville School District vs. Gobitis", an 8–1 majority in the Court held that a school district's interest in promoting national unity permitted it to require Witness students to recite the Pledge along with their class mates. "Gobitis" was an unpopular decision in the press, and it led to a rash of mob violence and intimidation against Jehovah's Witnesses;