♥A paper for school♥

This is a paper I wrote for school. Controversial issues. I did mine on saying "Under God" in the pledge at public schools. I believe we all should. It's over 1,000 words and most of it I copy and pasted from the internet.

Pledge of Allegiance-Under God
Gina Sabine Block C

My paper is on the Pledge of Allegiance and religion. I will be including the pros and cons of saying “Under God” during the Pledge at public schools. I am definitely for saying “Under God” in public schools. Schools not letting children say “Under God” are taking away their “freedom of speech.” These are "I imagine every Christian would agree that we need to remove the humanism from the public schools. There is only one way to accomplish this: to abolish the public schools." -- the Rev. Robert L. Thoburn, The Children Trap, 1986 "One day, I hope in the next ten years, I trust that we will have more Christian day schools than there are public schools. I hope I will live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken over them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!" -- Jerry Falwell, America Can Be Saved, 1979


First of all, we should be able to express our religions freely and should not be afraid to say “Under God” and to say “yes, I am a Christian, and I believe in God.” By the 1920’s, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance had become a ritural in manyh public schools. The key words “indivisible” which recalled the Civil War and the triumph of federal union over states’ rights, and “liberty and justice for all,” which was supposed to strike a balance between equality and individual freedom. The situation is that I (and the majority of the people) believe that saying “Under God” should stay in the pledge. I feel that people should have and show respect for our freedom, country, and for God. WASHINGTON - Americans overwhelmingly want the phrase "under God" preserved in the Pledge of Allegiance, a new poll says as the Supreme Court examines whether the classroom salute crosses the division of church and state. Almost nine in 10 people said the reference to God belongs in the pledge despite constitutional questions about the separation of church and state, according to an Associated Press poll. The student, Kenny Hess, removed the words "under God" from the pledge, which is shown with an American flag background on classroom TV throughout the school. Hess also declined to recite the phrase and, instead read, "one nation ... indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

School officials said they've punished Hess for misusing school equipment to deliver a personal message.

"He made a poor choice," said Mark Wenzel, Bethel School District spokesman.

Hess apologized and now wants his broadcasting privileges restored. He's also drawn sympathy from a California physician, who last week argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that the words "under God" should be removed from the pledge because it violates the constitutional separation of church and state.
What the schools are doing-in my opinion-they are taking away our rights to the first amendment. The first amendment says: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." Early court rulings support this position. In West Va. State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 642 (1943), the U.S. Supreme Court opined that "[i]f there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein." Nearly twenty-five years later, in Abood v. Detroit Bd. of Educ., 431 U.S. 209, 234-35 (1977), the Court stated that "[a]t the heart of the First Amendment is the notion that an individual should be free to believe as he will, and that in a free society one's beliefs should be shaped by his mind and his conscience rather than coerced by the State." Five years later, in Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853 (1982), the Court explained that while respecting the broad discretion of school boards in managing school affairs, they may not exercise their discretion in "a narrowly partisan or political manner" because "our Constitution does not permit the official suppression of ideas." Rulings against graduation prayers
In the seminal case on the issue, the U.S. Supreme Court held that inviting adults from outside the school to deliver religious prayers at a public middle school graduation ceremony was unconstitutional. In that 1992 case, Lee v. Weisman, a middle school customarily invited different members of the clergy to offer invocation and benediction prayers as part of the annual graduation ceremonies. Although the clergy chosen were of varying faiths, and the school district provided guidelines to assist in delivering nonsectarian prayers, the Court still found that inclusion of such prayers violated the establishment clause. The Court said the school had no business sponsoring prayers, selecting clergy or otherwise directing religious activities at a graduation. This is from my 1st source that I looked up. The "under God" movement didn't take off, however, until the next year, when it was endorsed by the Rev. George M. Docherty, the pastor of the Presbyterian church in Washington that Eisenhower attended. In February 1954, Docherty gave a sermon—with the president in the pew before him—arguing that apart from "the United States of America," the pledge "could be the pledge of any country." He added, "I could hear little Moscovites [sic] repeat a similar pledge to their hammer-and-sickle flag with equal solemnity." Perhaps forgetting that "liberty and justice for all" was not the norm in Moscow, Docherty urged the inclusion of "under God" in the pledge to denote what he felt was special about the United States. This encounters with the first amendment of Freedom of Religion and Speech. Teachers: Teachers represent the government while in the public school classroom and at school events. Teachers do not lose their First Amendment rights at school, and may discuss religious topics with their own peers, but they must be careful not to "force their religion" on the students. At the same time, teachers may not discourage students' religious activity when it falls within legal guidelines.
"Americans are being denied the right to express their religious speech in the public square." Ralph Reed, Christian Coalition.
"Public schools can neither foster religion nor preclude it. Our public schools must treat religion with fairness and respect and vigorously protect religious expression as well as the freedom of conscience of all other students. In so doing our public schools reaffirm the First Amendment and enrich the lives of their students". Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley June 1998
The reason that everyone saying “Under God” in the pledge is because it shows a sign of a little thing called respect. This is a little story I found and I think it supports my opinion. They are saying in this source how not every student says the whole pledge(in other words is not saying “Under God” and just going from-one nation-to indivisible.) They are also saying how it is okay to do so. I, on the other hand do not believe this. I believe that they should either say the whole pledge, or stand there “respectfully and quietly” and not say the pledge at all.
Yesterday's ruling by a Federal judge in San Francisco (upholding one's right not to use of the words "under God" while reciting "The Pledge of Allegiance") doesn't affect if I do or do not say the words "under God" in "The Pledge of Allegiance." Even if this ruling had gone the other way, I choose to say these words as a Catholic; however, that is my particular choice. The actual usage of the phrase is not mandatory, nor should it be. What is at issue here is separation of church and state, not just two little words. While their inclusion in "The Pledge" is not in itself religious, the connotation certainly indicates a united faithfulness. Looking at America in 2005, I see a very different place than when the words were inserted into "The Pledge" fifty plus years ago.
Every day millions of American school children start their schedules with "The Pledge of Allegiance." As a former teacher and school administrator, I can honestly say that during every morning that I was in front of a classroom (or at the podium before an assembly where "The Pledge" is commonly used to start programs) that I could not be certain that every student was reciting the entire thing. What I mean to say is that unless I went down the aisle and stood next to every child, there would be no way to know if he or she included "under God" in the recitation. I think that is an important thing to note, for any child can be taught to eliminate those words or substitute something else: "under Allah; under Creator; under Shiva," etcetera.
This was said by Victor Lana
"I imagine every Christian would agree that we need to remove the humanism from the public schools. There is only one way to accomplish this: to abolish the public schools." -- the Rev. Robert L. Thoburn, The Children Trap, 1986
"One day, I hope in the next ten years, I trust that we will have more Christian day schools than there are public schools. I hope I will live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken over them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!" -- Jerry Falwell, America Can Be Saved, 1979
I think that this-very much so-supports my opinion to which everyone should say the full pledge, or stand respectfully, while everyone else who chooses to, does.