As The Friendly Atheist points out, Republican politicians are pressing for a bill which would force high school students to make a pledge in order to graduate; a pledge which includes pleading to God:
I, _______, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge these duties; So help me God.
As Hemant Mehta states:
In other words, if this bill were to become a law, atheists would either not be allowed to graduate… or they would be forced to lie so they couldgraduate. Neither option is acceptable.
The bill is being proposed by Bob Thorpe, Sonny Borrelli, Carl Seel, T.J. Shope, Jeff Dial, David Livingston, Chester Crandell, and Steve Smith, obviously all Republicans…
Mehta points out that two of these,
Smith and Shope have also introduced legislation demanding that all students in grades 1-12 recite the Pledge of Allegiance (with “Under God”) every day. At least in that bill, students can get out of saying it with their parents’ permission.
As a teacher, the one thing that screams out to me here is that this in no way improves the education of the children. It does not progress them at all. It would all just be another waste of time and effort.
