Monday, October 5, 2009

Local School District Can Still Recite Pledge

Right in my backyard a lawsuit seeking to ban the Pledge of Allegiance from the Dresden School District (Hanover, N.H. and Norwich, VT) has been dismissed in N.H. Federal District Court. The Union Leader has the details:

The Does claimed that because teachers continued to lead the pledge in the children’s classes, thus exposing them to the words “under God,” that the school district was violating the right to express their beliefs as atheists and agnostics. They argued that the school and the district had a duty to show equal respect to their beliefs, accusing the teachers who led the pledge of leading students in an affirmation that God exists and creating a social environment that perpetuates prejudice against atheists, according to court documents.

They asked the judge to find that the Does’ rights were violated, that the state law was unconstitutional and that the districts should be forced to stop the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in the schools.
Note that students are not required to recite the Pledge. They may remain silent and or seated.

Personally, I think the suit is kind of silly. Are kids really being indoctrinated because they hear the phrase “under God?”

I wonder how the “Does” deal with handling cash . . . .

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