SAN FRANCISCO — A California atheist who took a challenge to the pledge of allegiance all the way to the Supreme Court, Michael Newdow, is retracting his statement to a reporter that one of his critics “lies constantly.”

An article in the October 25 issue of The New York Sun reported that Dr. Newdow made the assertion about an interdenominational minister, the Reverend Austin Miles of Oakley, Calif.

“I unequivocally and absolutely retract that statement,” Dr. Newdow wrote in a November 4 letter to a Christian legal organization representing Rev. Miles, the Thomas More Law Center of Ann Arbor, Mich.

Dr. Newdow’s letter came after the Thomas More Law Center demanded a retraction from the Sun.

In a California court in 2003, Dr. Newdow sued Rev. Miles for libel, charging that the minister published a column on the Web that falsely alleged that the atheist perjured himself by lying to a federal appeals court about how his daughter was impacted by saying the pledge of allegiance.

In the suit, Dr. Newdow alleged Rev. Miles either knew the perjury allegations were false or acted with reckless disregard in publishing them.

In a November 1 letter to the Sun, an attorney for Rev. Miles, Edward White III, stressed that his client “is not a liar.” Mr. White told the Sun in an interview last month that Rev. Miles “did not defame” Dr. Newdow.

The Sun’s article was intended to describe the court proceedings involving Dr. Newdow and Rev. Miles, including an October 24 appeals court ruling permitting the libel suit to proceed.

The Sun has not independently investigated the claims of Dr. Newdow or Rev. Miles and did not intend to imply agreement with or endorsement of the assertions made by the litigants, in or out of court.