By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
As a new school year begins, recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance is once again under attack by groups who say children should be told they have the right to opt out of reciting the pledge in their classrooms.
According to a report by Fox News, the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and other groups are pushing for more than just allowing students to opt out of the pledge. Now they want the students to be informed that the decision not to recite the pledge is entirely up to them.
“The Pledge of Allegiance creates a constitutional problem. You have to tell students they can opt out,” the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told FOX News.
“The Pledge doesn’t even state the truth. We are not one nation under God,” Lynn said. “I don’t think we should lie to students, and there’s no way we can require them to say it.”
Presently, 36 states have laws requiring the pledge to be recited daily, but the courts have ruled since 1943 that forcing students to recite it violates their First Amendment rights to free speech. However, some believe this is not enough and are advocating for a kind of “Miranda warning” for the pledge which consists of an administrative notice to students telling them they have the right to remain silent.
New Mexico dealt with this question last month after being challenged by the ACLU. The state’s Education Secretary, Veronica Garcia, ruled not to change the current state policy which requires daily recitation of the Pledge but allowing students to opt out.
“The department believes that the existing rule and practice in schools respects the rights of all students,” Garcia said a statement. “Any issues related to rights of students will be handled at the local school district level.”
New Mexico ACLU Director Peter Simonson, director of New Mexico’s ACLU, protested the ruling and told the Associated Press, “I think it’s a cop-out not to affirmatively state that students have a First Amendment right not to participate in the Pledge.”
In Florida, schools have tried to resolve uncertainty by announcing a new policy — students don’t have to participate, as long as they have a letter from Mom and Dad.
The pledge was written by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister, in 1892, but it did not include the words “under God.” These were added by Congress in 1954 during the McCarthy amidst fears of the encroachment of atheistic communism in the world.
“There has been a recurring effort by the ACLU and others to try to stop the Pledge of Allegiance from being said. The fact of the matter is that the American people like the Pledge of Allegiance, they like it the way it is,” Phyllis Schlafly, founder of the Eagle Forum, told FOXNews.
“The teachers are government employees, their paychecks are paid by the taxpayers, and the American people support the Pledge. I’m with the American people,” Schlafly said.
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