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Both the students at Boulder, Colo., High School who are protesting the traditional “Pledge of Allegiance” because of its inclusion of “God,” as well as school officials who are praising them for democratically expressing their views, need to be educated, charges a national advocacy group.
“The organized student boycott of the Pledge of Allegiance at Boulder High School yesterday was a ridiculous display of immaturity, ignorance and intolerance that should punished by the school,” said the Right Rev. Council Nedd, the national chairman of In God We Trust USA.
“In no way is hearing the words ‘under God’ offensive as high school senior Emma Martens claims. In media reports Miss Martens is quoted as saying, ‘We didn’t think it was fair for the whole school to have to listen to (the pledge). It’s almost religious oppression,'” he said.
“The only thing offensive about this whole episode is that children in Boulder High School are not being taught to respect their fellow students who believe in God or to appreciate America’s historical belief that our liberties come from a higher power and not from government,” he said.
“Under Colorado law if students do not wish to recite the pledge they are not required to. Disrupting classes to stage a demonstration against the Pledge of Allegiance should not be tolerated. Statements in the press attributed to Boulder High School Principal Bud Jenkins praising the students for ‘standing up for their beliefs’ are also disconcerting. Deliberately insulting and ridiculing the beliefs of fellow students and faculty members and interrupting learning should result in disciplinary action and not praise.”
The principal has confirmed he’s working on a letter to the student group rejecting their demands, but he praised them for their ability to express themselves democratically.
He said he was “proud of the kids” for their abilities, according to a report in the Boulder Daily Camera. “The kids are just exercising their constitutional rights,” he told the newspaper.
But he also said the students will continue to have the opportunity to say the traditional Pledge of Allegiance each morning during class time. Moving the Pledge from second period to a lunch hour as student protesters demanded puts too much of a burden on administrators and strains the security personnel, the principal said.
Several dozen students had walked out of class to protest the activity, which by state law must be offered to students daily during school hours. The students, instead, suggested their own pledge, which they believed would resolve three problems: that the few dozen words in the Pledge takes away from class time, that it’s disrespected by students, and offends non-religious students.
“I believe in God, but I don’t think they should mix church and state,” said sophomore Emma Marion.
She and others had pledged an alternative:
I pledge allegiance to the flag and my constitutional rights with which it comes. And to the diversity, in which our nation stands, one nation, part of one planet, with liberty, freedom, choice and justice for all.
The students promised to continue their protests weekly if the school doesn’t meet their demands and school officials said that’s fine as long as they don’t disrupt classes.
Senior Emma Martens, who is president of the student group called Student Worker and wrote the alternative, said Boulder High has a diverse population, “not all of whom believe in God, or one God.
“We didn’t think it was fair for the whole school to have to listen to it,” Martens said. “It’s disrespectful and in complete violation of the separation of church and state. It’s almost religious oppression.”
The Pledge of Allegiance originated with Baptist pastor Francis Bellamy, with the words: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” It later was revised to insert “to” before “the Republic.”
Years later, “my Flag” was replaced with “the Flag of the United States of America.’
In 1954, Congress ordered “under God” added.
Boulder High also is the school where students were herded into a recent seminar where a special guest speaker told them to “have sex, do drugs.”
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