Story: "Student leaders at a community college voted to drop the Pledge of Allegiance after a tense meeting in which one flag-waving pledge supporter berated them as anti-American radicals.
Orange Coast College's student trustees voted Wednesday not to recognize the pledge, with three of the five board members saying it should be dropped from their meetings.
Board member Jason Ball argued that the pledge inspires nationalism, violates the separation between church and state with the phrase "under God," and is irrelevant to the business of student government. He cited a 2002 San Francisco federal appeals court ruling — later dismissed by the Supreme Court on a technicality — that the pledge is unconstitutional when recited in public schools.
Sophomore Chris Belanger, one of several students who attended the meeting to support keeping the pledge, waved an American flag and accused the board of "radical views and anti-Americanism."
Yeah. Californa, land of the fruits, nuts and flakes.
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I guess this is just because I am not American, but I do not find the idea of reciting the pledge of allegiance very appealing.
I do not think I would particularly want to sing 'God save the Queen' every day either.
God Bless
Matt
Whenever I hear people using California laws to make a point, the 1st thought that comes to mind is FRUITCAKE, esp San Fran.
As for dys fund's comments, I think it's good to sing songs or recite pledges to one's homeland. This is what I love about the Olympics and that is you see athletes very passionate about their national anthem.
"...irrelevant to the business of student government..."
Right...the Pledge of Allegiance... irrelevant to student GOVERNMENT?!?!?!?!
Considering how ridiculous that statement is, allow me to read between the lines: in this day and age of secular humanistic GLOBALISM, it is probably thought that pledging allegiance to one's country is incompatible with their idea of government moreso than it is "irrelevant."
"...violates the separation between church and state..."
What do you think the statistics are, Palm Boy? Do you think 98, or 99, or 99.5 percent of references to "separation of church and state" are ignorant and/or out-of-context?
It could be argued that saying "under God" is less sectarian than NOT saying it. The word "God" is very vague and includes most of the religions of the world, and it also acknowledges and respects the foundation upon which this country was built. By taking it out of the pledge, or by refusing to say the pledge for that reason, you are basically establishing--in an indirect way--the religion of atheism (and/or relativism or universalism), and removing part of the freedom of religion for any form of believer in God or a god.
I guess a positive is this: at least California is consistent and predictable (consistently and predictably cooky!), if that's worth anything. ;)
Matt, The pledge of alliegance may be something unique to America, where we can acknowledge our freedoms in a simple statement, and it is a great way to open a meeting, particularly in lieu of a prayer in a secular setting.
Mercy, I love the olympics too.
KA, irrelevant is crazy.
I'm betting 95% of the people who use 'separation of church and state' have no idea what they speak of, and often use it out of context.
Persistantly and predictably nuts... Thats good, I suppose.
Yo, bet ya'r happy that the Packs won yesterday:o)
Indeed, taking down the Vikes, in Minnesota.
The Patriots are next.
"Separation of church and state" is not at all what most people think or what the ACLU tells us. Instead, our founding fathers meant that the government should not be able to control the church like what happening in England. In fact, in from 1770-1850 almost every state in the US had laws that are almost completely unknown. These laws stated that only Christians could be politicians. So don't let the ACLU tell you our fathers wanted no church in government. I'll be writing about the ACLU on my blog sometime in the next two weeks so keep an eye out for that article.
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