Saturday, March 27, 2010
Court Clears Reciting of Pledge of Allegiance at Western Schools
The Pledge of Allegiance is recited by millions of students across the United States as a form of patriotism that goes back all the way to their first day of school. Usually before class begins, the principal’s voice on the intercom tells everyone to stand for the pledge; they recite it, and get on with their school day. Although, many students recite the pledge without a care about word context within each stanza, some parents view this as going against everything they stand for. So, the premise of this article focuses on a group of atheist parents from Sacramento, California viewing the pledge as indoctrinating their children about God and how the Court of Appeals ruled against them.
The case titled Newdow v. Rio Linda Union School District was brought into the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, California in December 2007. The argument stems from teacher-led reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance and the reciting of the phrase “one nation under God” that brought atheist parents together on the issue. The plantiff Michael Newdow, a prominent lawyer and atheist, has been pushing this case towards the Supreme Court in 2004. The justices dismissed his case on technical grounds causing him to look for other parents to strengthen his case. However, the 9th Court of Appeals did not see the pledge as a religious message but a traditional patriotic exercise as they ruled 2-1 against Newdow. The dissenting judge, Stephen Reinhardt saw the pledge as being overtly religious forcing many students to recite something they truly do not believe in. However, Newdow still is going to push this issue for rehearing and if that fails back to the Supreme Court, but he believes its pretty futile.
The big question this article presents deals with none other than the Establishment Clause. In the many court cases that we have read dealing with schools and religion from Engel v. Vitale to Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing TP, we see the Establishment Clause show how a mention of God or religion by the government in a public setting such as schools does not violate the law of separation of church and state. However, the Establishment Clause does fall under scrutiny as many of us has seen the Ten Commandments in Courthouses or prayer lead before the beginning of a high school football game i.e. Santa Fe Independent School District v. DOE.
When it comes to my opinion on the subject matter I believe that the 9th circuit Court of Appeals ruled this case pretty fairly. I believe that while some people see the pledge going against everything they stand for the schools can’t simply cater to the minority when it will greatly affect the majority. Unless the atheist parents could get everyone in the school system on their side on the issue then maybe I might reconsider my answer, but it seems that this will not be happening anytime soon.
0 Responses to “Court Clears Reciting of Pledge of Allegiance at Western Schools”
Post a Comment