From http://www.mclu.org/nottospeak.htmAn interesting story on future citizen-units being brainscrubbed in the lovely state of Pennsylvania. http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/5124933.htm ----... But recite they must. Under a state law that takes effect today, almost every student in Pennsylvania - from preschool through high school, in schools public and private - must face the Stars and Stripes each school day and say the pledge or sing the national anthem.It is "one of the most stringent pledge laws in the United States," said Greta Durr, a researcher for the National Conference of State Legislatures, which tracks state lawmaking across the nation.
Minersville School District vs. Gobitis - 310 U.S. 586, 60 S. Ct. 1136 (1940).
The Supreme Court upheld a Pennsylvania school district that expelled
two Jehovah's Witness students for refusing to pledge allegiance to an idol;
their religion also forbade them to do the Heil Hitler salute.
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 63 S. Ct. 1178 (1943).
The Supremes reversed themselves on a similar case, something they rarely do.
The recent 9th Circuit court decision deleting "under God" from
the mandatory idol-worshipping doesn't yet apply to Pennsylvania.
Leaving aside the issues of forcing kids to recite something they
don't understand or affirm something they don't believe,
there's the little problem that if the teachers are going to
pledge their allegiance to the Republic, they need to start
following the First Amendment, and also throwing out the lawmakers
who've violated their oaths to uphold the Constitution.
And since they're not in the 9th District, so they've still got the
"under God" part, the legislators are going to have to start
cleaning up their act a lot on the God parts too,
and I do *not* mean by forcing other people to believe things they don't...
