Thread: Students at Calif college ban Pledge of Allegiance

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Student leaders at a California college have touched off a furor by banning the Pledge of Allegiance at their meetings, saying they see no reason to publicly swear loyalty to God and the U.S. government.

The move by Orange Coast College student trustees, the latest clash over patriotism and religion in American schools, has infuriated some of their classmates -- prompting one young woman to loudly recite the pledge in front of the board on Wednesday night in defiance of the rule.

"America is the one thing I'm passionate about and I can't let them take that away from me," 18-year-old political science major Christine Zoldos told Reuters.

"The fact that they have enough power to ban one of the most valued traditions in America is just horrible," Zoldos said, adding she would attend every board meeting to salute the flag.

The move was led by three recently elected student trustees, who ran for office wearing revolutionary-style berets and said they do not believe in publicly swearing an oath to the American flag and government at their school. One student trustee voted against the measure, which does not apply to other student groups or campus meetings.

The ban follows a 2002 ruling by a federal appeals court in San Francisco that said forcing school children to recite the pledge was unconstitutional because of the phrase "under God." The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the ruling on procedural grounds but left the door open for another challenge.

"That ('under God') part is sort of offensive to me," student trustee Jason Ball, who proposed the ban, told Reuters. "I am an atheist and a socialist, and if you know your history, you know that 'under God' was inserted during the McCarthy era and was directly designed to destroy my ideology."

Ball said the ban largely came about because the trustees didn't want to publicly vow loyalty to the American government before their meetings. "Loyalty ought to be something the government earns through performance, not through reciting a pledge," he said.

Martha Parham, a spokeswoman for the Coast Community College District, said her office had no standing on the student board and took no position on the flag salute ban.

"If their personal belief is that they don't want to say the Pledge of Allegiance, the district certainly isn't going to dictate what they do," she said.

More than 28,000 students attend the community college, located in conservative Orange County, California, south of Los Angeles.

These student communists should leave the country and go live in a communist country. These kind of people make me sick. They do not deserve the privilege to live in America. They are renouncing allegiance to the nation by their actions.

I hope people say the pledge at every meeting forever in protest.

"I am an atheist and a socialist,

In the short few years he has been on this earth, this little twerp has gained all this great knowledge about his existence and socialist ideals that he can't possibly grasp the significance of either.

He is the fruit of our corrupt left-wing educational system which brainwashs kids with all these radical ideas.

He is the fruit of our corrupt left-wing educational system which brainwashs kids with all these radical ideas.

those left wing brainwashers are also supporters of illegal immigration and cheerleaders of La Raza and Mecha.

"If their personal belief is that they don't want to say the Pledge of Allegiance, the district certainly isn't going to dictate what they do," she said.

Perhaps the district would change their mind if the federal government decided it did want to provide federal funds to the college.

I have to wonder what they are teaching kids these days, they don't seem to understand what America stands for or what our flag represents nor do they realise that it was a flag born in battle and baptisted in blood and went on to become a symbol of freedom, just so they have the freedom to say they won't make a pledge to it or to freedom.
They seem to forget all the countless men and women who have fought and died for their rights to have this freedom. I wonder what they think they will have if they throw away this symbol of freedom?
Do they want a government that will do all for them?
There is no country in this world that gives more than the USA.
All I can really say is that America is a great place to live and if you don't like it here then you have the freedom to leave and let the rest of us alone because we love our country and our flag and our way of life.
God bless America
Long may the Stars and Stripes wave.