Oakland has suspended the voluntary recitation of the pledge pending jusicial outcome. Coerced recitation has been illegal since 1943 in the West Va. v Barnett case.
In other words they have suspended political speech, the first amendment to the Constitution.
Trivial matter?
Balogna
You don't want to say the words "under God", then don't. But don't go telling me that the suspension of political speech in Oakland is much ado about nothing.
Do you live in Oakland? If you do, start making a ruckus. If you have friends in Oakland ask them to start making a fuss.
Coerced recitation has been illegal since 1943 in the West Va. v Barnett case.
That's funny, in K-12 in Massachusetts no one ever told us the pledge was voluntary and that goes for the Lord's Prayer that we said every morning too.
The whole matter of "pledging allegiance" to one's country every morning is so trivial as to be meaningless. Do you think that kids will suddenly become Jihadis by not reciting the pledge every morning?
Will saying the pledge stop the commie indoctrination in the schools?
I believe the Ninth Circuit is dead wrong, but the world will go on spinning with or without any damn pledge.
As you go through life remember,
Whatever be your goal,
Keep you eye upon the donut,
And not upon the hole.
Feel free to say "under God" on your own time, at your own home, at your own place of worship, at your own private school. You have that right of free speech. However, there are limits on your free speech. You can't come into my house and preach your religion or your politics. I won't permit it.
I respect your religion and your right to practice it. But leave my children out of it. A local public school board has no right to push religious beliefs on my children, either by coercion or "voluntarily" through peer pressure.
The Ninth Circuit ruled in essence that there should not be pressure, overt or implied, on children in public school to conform to someone's religious ideas, however harmless or virtuous they may seem to you.
The minority view is being protected from the tyranny of the majority by this court ruling. That is the greatness of this country.
The people who wrote the Constitution were influenced by the European wars of religion, where people were killed for not conforming to the majority religious view. That is what the slippery slope of government endorsement of religion can lead to. No thanks.