Thoughts about this "But we're not FORCING them!" canard.

It's schoolchildren we're talking about. The one or two children that stay silent, or omit "under God", stand out like a sore thumb. People who use this argument act as if there's no such thing as peer pressure.

So don't tell me you're not forcing them. Yes you ARE and you know it.

It's like forcing atheists to wear armbands and then saying, "Why, we're not outlawing atheism or anything. Is an armband really so much trouble?"

and if you are only half Jewish, well, we will let you wear half the star...

If you don't want to say the words there are ways around it without drawing attention to yourself. I personally just pass and I've never noticed any one paying attention to my silence.

Let's tip your kid's schoolmates that she's saying "dog" instead of "god" and see what happens.

But you grow up strong.

Anyway, my armband has this big ol' scarlet A on it...

:evilfrown:

and NO ONE has ever said a word about it.

I stood there like all the other kids, but I didn't say a word. Then they had that whole moment of silence bit. In the grand scope of things though, and remembering saying it proudly as a younger child, it does seem like indoctrination.

"I pledge allegience to the flag, Michael Jackson is a fag, Pepsi-Cola burned him up, now hes drinking 7-up."

Sound familiar at all, mabye some other variation?

The only kids that care that much about this pledge are the ones whos parents make them listen to Rush Limbaugh. I had kids in my classes that didn't say it and nobody cared, this is in a super conservative district of California during the Regan years.

if a child just ommitted saying under god. at that point take a breath and under god is beyond and can say the rest. the child already knows he/she is a minority adn i am sure any parent that raises a child as something other than christian has already adn will continue to help child walk this journey in seperation. part of being an athiest is being in a minority,.....it will allow this child to be empathic to other minority and the reality of what being in a minority is about. the good, the higher in the event. it is the job of parent to help child to achieve this. be it atheism, being an intellectual, being a small framed boy, whatever it may be the4 child experiences that seperates them from group, is the lesson.

and the school would do nothing to help him. Being spotted leaving out certain words or not saying the pledge at all would bring the worst out in these hypochristian brats and make his life hell (again). So far this year it hasn't been an issue, but it was really terrible for him last year.

I really don't think minors ought to be pledging anything. If they're not considered old enough to join into binding contracts, how can they be expected to understand what "the republic for which it stands" is and swear fealty to it?