The Pledge of Allegiance is a much talked about topic at SBHS.
You either say it or you don’t, agree with it or disagree.
”
Under God
”
may be insulting to some and uplifting to others.
The founding fathers didn’t want religion institutionalized in
the government. Someone go read the Constitution and tell me where
they speak of God’s needed influence in the government?
The Pledge of Allegiance is a much talked about topic at SBHS. You either say it or you don’t, agree with it or disagree. “Under God” may be insulting to some and uplifting to others.
The founding fathers didn’t want religion institutionalized in the government. Someone go read the Constitution and tell me where they speak of God’s needed influence in the government? A pledge is suppose to be an expression of patriotism, not of religion. The first Pledge of Allegiance was “I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Written by a socialist in 1892, it was like this until 1954, during the Red Scare of Russia, that President Eisenhower signed the bill to put “under God” in the Pledge.
The bill was to “deny the atheistic and materialistic concept of communism.” During the signing of the bill, Eisenhower said, “millions of our schoolchildren will daily proclaim … the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty.” This seems to me like it was meant to promote religion. So, why should someone be forced to say the Pledge? Not just the atheist, but people who claim of religion outside of Christianity because it is clearly meant for the Christian God.
Republican Sen. William Knight has introduced a bill to make all kindergarten through 12th-grade students recite the Pledge every day because of the war in Iraq. If this passes, students will have to go through the uncomfortableness of having being looked down upon or being labeled a “communist.”
The bill does permit students who refuse to say the Pledge to not be subjected to anything for their doing. Kyle Mondragon, a freshman at SBHS, refuses to stand for the Pledge. One day, the teacher stopped the class and asked Mondragon, “Why won’t you stand for the Pledge?”
Mondragon replied, “I hate this country and the government that runs it.”
Should this bring punishment? The First Amendment should grant him his right to say such a statement, but the teacher failed to give him such a right.
I believe the current Pledge is unconstitutional and the statement, “You don’t have to say ‘under God’ if you don’t want to” is a poor excuse to be put upon people who have an opposite faith or someone without faith. That statement is usually said, not always, by people the Pledge is in favor of, like Christians, with some who say the United States isn’t a Christian country, but who don’t want the part “under God” taken out.
The reference of “under God” in the Pledge is a “daily religious loyalty test for school children,” according to the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. The Pledge gives people a common perception that it’s a test to pressure school children to believe in God – which makes the Pledge unconstitutional.
Shawn Reichers is a senior at San Benito High School.
