Posted on 07/03/2002 6:05:31 PM PDT by mdittmar
The Pledge of Allegiance must be recited every week in Missouri's public schools under a bill signed into law Wednesday, a week after a panel of federal judges ruled the pledge unconstitutional.
State lawmakers had passed the bill before the ruling was issued, and Gov. Bob Holden said it didn't affect his decision to sign.
"This is a symbolic gesture that we as a state believe in the Pledge of Allegiance and its values and that we hold those values dear to our heart," Holden said. "I think that court decision will be overturned."
In their June 26 decision, three judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the pledge phrase "one nation under God" amounted to a government endorsement of religion, violating the separation of church and state. That ruling, which applies to nine Western states and not Missouri, has been stayed until other members of the court have a chance to weigh in.
Under the Missouri law, effective Aug. 28, public schools must ensure the pledge is recited weekly in a scheduled class of every student, but students cannot be required to participate.
Holden brushed aside suggestions that children who don't participate would be ostracized.
"I think the point here is that this is a way for them to all understand what it means to be an American," he said.
The bill's sponsor, Democratic Sen. Ted House, said the legislation was prompted partly by his concern that many Missouri schools were moving away from reciting the pledge.
"These are state schools, they receive public money and I think the Legislature should set the public policy of indicating that public schools will offer the Pledge of Allegiance to students," House said.
In Illinois on Wednesday, Gov. George Ryan signed into law a requirement that public high schools lead students in the pledge every day. State law already mandated that elementary schools set aside time for the pledge. Neither law requires that students participate in the pledge or punishes them if they refuse.
Why? I don't believe that reciting the pledge actually accomplishes anything, except getting people riled up on both sides.
Compulsory patriotism is the best way for kids to grow up NOT loving their county. Teaching them to appreciate the vision of the Founders is better than reciting any pledge.
This is the equivalent of saying that children shouldh't be compelled (by their parents) to attend religious services and classes, because that's "shoving religion down their throats." The problem with that sort of thinking is that children MUST be taught these things, and if not compelled, they will be out doing other stuff! Children can not make their own decisions about these things, since they simply don't know any better. Reciting the Pledge, along with a discussion of what makes this country better than others (i.e., why you are saying the Pledge) will instill an understanding of the responsibilities that come along with the privaliges that living in this country give us all.
Mark
Me too. It couldn't have been said better. Thank you for posting.
No it's not.
First of all, attending religious services itself is an act that requires some sort of commitment of time and energy. Along with that is the teachings of the religion's history and how to act.
Simply standing to recite the pledge in school accompished nothing. A vow or oath without an accompanying commitment is empty, just as reciting a baptismal oath is without the baptism, just as empty as the enlistment oath without the haircut, just as empty as a Boy Scout oath witout joining the Boy Scouts.
Reciting the oath doesn't require any act on the part of those reciting and there is no penalty for breaking it.
I place my oath to support and defend the Constitution on a much higher plane that the Pledge. Besides, the Pledge is a 'my country right or wrong' type of oath, and I won't do that. When the acts of my country violate the Constitution, I will support and defend the Constitution from my country, if necessary. The authors of the oath of office and enlistment must have anticipated possible conflicts or else they wouldn't have made the provision fro defending the Constitution from all enemies foreign AND DOMESTIC.
Continue pledging if you wish. But compelling anyone, especially children to recite loyalty oaths seems to fly in the face of true honor for freedom and love of country.
The local high school names it's hallways after founding fathers. The cafeteria is Freedom Hall. Seniors must pass the citizenship test. The band plays a beautiful, slow version of Dixie. Our congressman led the crowd in prayer at the season's last football game last year.
Of course, schools usually reflect their communities, and this one is the most conservative congressional district in the country.
Context. Today, not 40 years ago.
Propgandizing citizens was mush easier in the 60's, wasn't it?
Back then, we weren't taught that the US was complicit in the sinking of the Maine, that the US knew about the Pearl Harbor attack, that the Gulf of Tonkin incident wasn't true, that the military had conducted medical experiments on soldiers, that a single bullet could cause so much damage, etc, etc. We were more likely then to believe anything that the government told us. Even when it wasn't true.
Those that truly support the Constution and the concepts of liberty and freedom sometimes have to disapprove of of what happens under the flag of the country.
Do you realize that all around the world there are plain, ordinary people who do not understand why the US military is occupying their lands, why the CIA is messing with their government, or why the USA is bombing their countries?
We may see it in a Big Picture context, but we rarely see it in the same way that those on the ground 4000 miles away see it.
clinton was bombing aspirin factories in third world countries to distract from his troubles at home, and all those cruise missiles he sent abroad were sent while you were pledging allegience to the flag that he hid behind. Are you certain you want to pledge allegience to that?
Pledges are proclamations of commitment. I don't believe that any oath or pledge means anything unless there is some sort of accompanying action that separates those who swear the oath from those that don't. Recitations, no matter whether they are in fraternal, educatonal, military, or other organizations are mere words until there is an appropriate action.
Most of the people who recite the pledge don't give a rat's butt about adhering to the Constitution, so what good is it? What does it prove?
Your point?
Simple. You can swear your allegiance to the constitution every hour on the hour but without the values embodied in the pledge it is as worthless as the Soviet Constitution that closely mirrored our own. The pledge is not to the government it is to the Republic and for that which its stands. Your cynicism is wearing thin as are all of the anti-pledge rants.
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