Posted on 11/10/2006 8:44:34 AM PST by FreedomNeocon
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Student leaders at a California college have touched off a furor by banning the Pledge of Allegiance at their meetings, saying they see no reason to publicly swear loyalty to God and the U.S. government.
The move by Orange Coast College student trustees, the latest clash over patriotism and religion in American schools, has infuriated some of their classmates -- prompting one young woman to loudly recite the pledge in front of the board on Wednesday night in defiance of the rule.
"America is the one thing I'm passionate about and I can't let them take that away from me," 18-year-old political science major Christine Zoldos told Reuters.
"The fact that they have enough power to ban one of the most valued traditions in America is just horrible," Zoldos said, adding she would attend every board meeting to salute the flag.
The move was lead by three recently elected student trustees, who ran for office wearing revolutionary-style berets and said they do not believe in publicly swearing an oath to the American flag and government at their school. One student trustee voted against the measure, which does not apply to other student groups or campus meetings.
The ban follows a 2002 ruling by a federal appeals court in San Francisco that said forcing school children to recite the pledge was unconstitutional because of the phrase "under God." The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the ruling on procedural grounds but left the door open for another challenge.
"That ('under God') part is sort of offensive to me," student trustee Jason Bell, who proposed the ban, told Reuters. "I am an atheist and a socialist, and if you know your history, you know that 'under God' was inserted during the McCarthy era and was directly designed to destroy my ideology."
Bell said the ban largely came about because the trustees didn't want to publicly vow loyalty to the American government before their meetings. "Loyalty ought to be something the government earns through performance, not through reciting a pledge," he said.
Martha Parham, a spokeswoman for the Coast Community College District, said her office had no standing on the student board and took no position on the flag salute ban.
"If their personal belief is that they don't want to say the Pledge of Allegiance, the district certainly isn't going to dictate what they do," she said.
More than 28,000 students attend the community college, located in conservative Orange County, California, south of Los Angeles.
I'm sure glad we'll have Poloci and Reid and Murtha, and Kennedy, and Kerry, and McGovern and all running the show to put an end to stuff like that...
Immediately end all taxpayer funding of this college. Really. Do it now.
I hope they do. Truly.
That's what I was thinking.
"That ('under God') part is sort of offensive to me," student trustee Jason Bell, who proposed the ban, told Reuters. "I am an atheist and a socialist, and if you know your history, you know that 'under God' was inserted during the McCarthy era and was directly designed to destroy my ideology."
There's your future America. Be proud.
Yes...stop the funding and their student loans...
--the Brits that felt this way in the '30's mostly got to die in WW2--
Why do these students want to offend me so much? Did I do something to them?
there you go.. showing true colors as soon as they feel safely in power.
Immediately end all taxpayer funding of this college. Really. Do it now."""
ABSOLUTELY!!!!!
I agree - end all taxpayer funding immediately.
I do have to say, the quote from one of the idiot radicals is correct - the government should never forget that loyalty is earned - that is the fundamental concept of the social compact.
On this Veteran's Day I can't help but think in sadness of the comparison between how these folks treat the flag vs. how our soldier on Iwo treated it.
These must be the offspring of the hippies who threw baggies full of s*** at me when I got home from Vietnam.
This is exactly the kind of attitude that will allow terrorists to operate freely in the U.S.
Remember, 31,000,000 AINOs voted to do just that.
Stop all tax payer money from going to this school. Stop all student loans. They are racist and anti-American and the American tax payer is paying for their racist attitude.
But wait! That has to be a myth, since the MSM said it never really happened. </bitter sarcasm>
Who cares anymore I hope they all get STDs.
California can burn to the ground.
They can't take America and Patriotism away from you Christine, but you can take your tuition money away from them and go elsewhere.
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