Oregon panel OKs bill requiring daily Pledge of Allegiance in schools

[Cronus]

Oregon panel OKs bill requiring daily Pledge of Allegiance in schools

Published April 13, 2013

Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. –  A legislative committee voted unanimously Friday for a bill requiring the Pledge of Allegiance to be recited daily in Oregon public classrooms.

Under state law, schools must give students the opportunity to say the Pledge of Allegiance at least once a week. The bill passed by the House Education Committee would require schools to do so daily, and to have an employee or student lead the recital.

Students can't be compelled to say the pledge, and the bill wouldn't change that.

Supporters say the pledge is an important part of civic education. Critics say requiring time each day for the pledge would further ostracize students who don't participate because of religious or other reasons.

Rep. Sal Esquivel, a Republican from Medford and the bill's chief sponsor, said he believes the Pledge of Allegiance teaches students about the nation's legacy.

"We need to teach kids the symbolism of that flag," Esquivel said. "That flag stands for America. That flag stands for your freedoms. That flag stands for everything this country's ever done, has been or will be in the future."

The bill, which moves to the House, would also require each classroom to display the American flag. Currently, Oregon law requires that a flag be displayed at or near a school building.

Specifically, Esquivel has targeted his grandson's school, the Madrone Trail Public Charter School, for not flying the American flag. He also said the Medford charter school doesn't teach the Pledge of Allegiance to young students.

Joseph Frodsham, the charter school's director, said he has reservations about making young students take a pledge that they don't fully understand.

"We are not anti-American, or anything of that nature," Frodsham said. "There's concern that in the lower grades, we're asking them to do something that they don't understand."

He confirmed that the school does not fly an American flag, but he said he displays a flag in his school office.

Oregon law does not specify whether charter schools are covered under the current requirement that the flag be displayed at or near school buildings. Esquivel's bill specifically includes them.

Oregon schools have adopted differing practices on when and where students say the pledge each week.

Spokeswoman Christine Miles said students in the Portland school district recite the Pledge of Allegiance in the classroom each Monday. Students who do not wish to participate are asked to be respectful of others, and may choose to sit or stand quietly, or remove themselves from the classroom, Miles said.

The Beaverton School District has a similar policy, except there is no designated day, said spokeswoman Maureen Wheeler.

Standard practice for reciting the pledge in Oregon schools is to have students stand facing the flag with their right hands placed over their hearts.

Two words in the pledge have sparked controversy: "under God."

Dissenters say they are uncomfortable reciting the Pledge of Allegiance for religious and other reasons. For example, members of the Jehovah's Witnesses denomination typically do not participate in saying the pledge.

"It is callous for the government to force schoolchildren of minority faiths to isolate themselves from their classmates to avoid participating in a religious exercise in violation of their conscience," Becky Straus, a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, said in testimony.

Straus said choosing to dissent from classmates is already a delicate situation for young students, and the bill would make that decision more difficult.

A landmark 1943 Supreme Court case brought by a member of Jehovah's Witnesses upheld a student's right not to participate in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/13/oregon-panel-oks-bill-requiring-daily-pledge-allegiance-in-schools/#ixzz2QLc4gMSf

 

[RVPleaseToday]

There are many people who are opposed to pledging allegiance to anything. I can understand the concern. Especially when a government is demanding it.

[pattyangel]

If the parent disapproves a the child's participation then the child should not participate.  Liked mentioned above, some school allows that option to participate or not.  No one is demanding.  The American flag stands for the nations legacy.  And how you missed that lesson is beyond me. 

 

Sorry you can't get rid of God no matter how hard you try.  God will always be in our hearts. 

[Cronus]

The Pledge of Allegiance

A Short History by Dr. John W. Baer

Copyright 1992 by Dr. John W. Baer

 

 

 

 

 

Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931), a Baptist minister, wrote the original Pledge in August 1892. He was a Christian Socialist. In his Pledge, he is expressing the ideas of his first cousin, Edward Bellamy, author of the American socialist utopian novels, Looking Backward (1888) and Equality (1897).

Francis Bellamy in his sermons and lectures and Edward Bellamy in his novels and articles described in detail how the middle class could create a planned economy with political, social and economic equality for all. The government would run a peace time economy similar to our present military industrial complex.

The Pledge was published in the September 8th issue of The Youth's Companion, the leading family magazine and the Reader's Digest of its day. Its owner and editor, Daniel Ford, had hired Francis in 1891 as his assistant when Francis was pressured into leaving his baptist church in Boston because of his socialist sermons. As a member of his congregation, Ford had enjoyed Francis's sermons. Ford later founded the liberal and often controversial Ford Hall Forum, located in downtown Boston.

In 1892 Francis Bellamy was also a chairman of a committee of state superintendents of education in the National Education Association. As its chairman, he prepared the program for the public schools' quadricentennial celebration for Columbus Day in 1892. He structured this public school program around a flag raising ceremony and a flag salute - his 'Pledge of Allegiance.'

His original Pledge read as follows: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag and (to*) the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.' He considered placing the word, 'equality,' in his Pledge, but knew that the state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality for women and African Americans. [ * 'to' added in October, 1892. ]

Dr. Mortimer Adler, American philosopher and last living founder of the Great Books program at Saint John's College, has analyzed these ideas in his book, The Six Great Ideas. He argues that the three great ideas of the American political tradition are 'equality, liberty and justice for all.' 'Justice' mediates between the often conflicting goals of 'liberty' and 'equality.'

In 1923 and 1924 the National Flag Conference, under the 'leadership of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, changed the Pledge's words, 'my Flag,' to 'the Flag of the United States of America.' Bellamy disliked this change, but his protest was ignored.

In 1954, Congress after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, added the words, 'under God,' to the Pledge. The Pledge was now both a patriotic oath and a public prayer.

Bellamy's granddaughter said he also would have resented this second change. He had been pressured into leaving his church in 1891 because of his socialist sermons. In his retirement in Florida, he stopped attending church because he disliked the racial bigotry he found there.

What follows is Bellamy's own account of some of the thoughts that went through his mind in August, 1892, as he picked the words of his Pledge:

It began as an intensive communing with salient points of our national history, from the Declaration of Independence onwards; with the makings of the Constitution...with the meaning of

the Civil War

; with the aspiration of the people...

The true reason for allegiance to the Flag is the 'republic for which it stands.' ...And what does that vast thing, the Republic mean? It is the concise political word for the Nation - the One Nation which the Civil War was fought to prove. To make that One Nation idea clear, we must specify that it is indivisible, as Webster and Lincoln used to repeat in their great speeches. And its future?

Just here arose the temptation of the historic slogan of the French Revolution which meant so much to Jefferson and his friends, 'Liberty, equality, fraternity.' No, that would be too fanciful, too many thousands of years off in realization. But we as a nation do stand square on the doctrine of liberty and justice for all...

If the Pledge's historical pattern repeats, its words will be modified during this decade. Below are two possible changes.

Some prolife advocates recite the following slightly revised Pledge: 'I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, born and unborn.'

A few liberals recite a slightly revised version of Bellamy's original Pledge: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with equality, liberty and justice for all.'

[Kimjackie]

I have two points to make:

 

The first point being that all of our money says ""IN GOD WE TRUST"" on it yet you work hard for that money, you spend that money, you donate that money to all causes even non religious causes and they happily accept it,  you pay taxes that the government wants and requires, however I dont hear people saying they want nothing to do with that money because it says ""IN GOD WE TRUST"".   Why is the Pledge different?.  With the pledge you say words, with money you show actions and didnt we all learn that actions speak louder than words, hmmm so in my humble opinion people who refuse to say the pledge and argue against saying it because of religion or government requirements, yet continue to spend money and pay required taxes to the government are being a little hipocritical.

 

 

My second point is I think saying the pledge should be required in every state, every school. They should be required to fly the American flag as well...If you dont want to stand for the pledge in school then thats your right, its not mandantory,  but it still should be held every morning prior to school where those that want to stand up for it can do so......If you decide to stand up for the pledge because you know in your heart it represents this great country but are adverse to saying "UNDER GOD" then replace those two words with what you want or leave them out.   You can say ""one nation indivisible with equality, liberty justice for all"".... The pledge teaches us about this great country and what it means for all of us and all children should learn when they are young why we fought so hard for it and our freedoms, religious or not.

Edited April 13, 2013 by Kimjackie

[jonjon]

Anyone not wanting to pledge allegiance to this country and its flag should be deported.  If someone is unwilling to be apart of our country they should leave. Anyone living here not willing to support it or leave should be executed.  

[carlablum]

What is so sad  is that there shouldn't even have to be a law for this!!   It should be a common every day thing to do like it used to be.  After the first bell, the pledge of allegiance would come over the loud speaker and we would all proudly stand and cover our hearts.  What has happened to this great U S of A????  

[dog53]

What is so sad  is that there shouldn't even have to be a law for this!!   It should be a common every day thing to do like it used to be.  After the first bell, the pledge of allegiance would come over the loud speaker and we would all proudly stand and cover our hearts.  What has happened to this great U S of A????  

 

Yes exactly. It wasnt about not saying it. It was something that you did everyday at school . Like lunch

No big deal

[LIBoy]

Anyone not wanting to pledge allegiance to this country and its flag should be deported.  If someone is unwilling to be apart of our country they should leave. Anyone living here not willing to support it or leave should be executed.

But if they are deported in part one of your theory, they would not be around for the last part to come to fruition.

P.S. - what book in the bible condones public execution?

[jonjon]

But if they are deported in part one of your theory, they would not be around for the last part to come to fruition.

P.S. - what book in the bible condones public execution?

To answer your question, I don't have any idea.  Feel free to do your own research.  I wasn't implying execution by bible,  more like lethal injection.  Humanitarian reasons.  

[Thaiexpat]

Strange that government would require allegiance when they provide nothing in return. Court rulings have stated "...it does not require the federal government or states to provide services, even so elementary a service as maintaining law and order (Bowers v. DeVito, 686 F 2d. 616" and "citizenship is membership in a political society, and implies a duty of allegiance on the part of the member and a duty of protection on the part of society. These are reciprocal obligations, one being a compensation for the other..." (Luria v US., 231 US 9, 22)

So unless gummermint can provide such services, then how can gubermint demand allegiance from its members? There is no requirement on the part of gov't to do such, but I am "required" to submit my allegiance to the same? Seems to defy logic, but fits nicely in making children "model citizens". (ie drones, worker-bees, etc) Dunno, just asking.........Peace