Right to Protest Pledge of Allegiance?

http://www.libertarianrock.com/topics/rights/pledge_rights.html

Now I understand what the law says, but we all know that sometimes the law and actual public consensus disagrees. Now some of the people I trust in my life the most are here on this website. I was hoping to gather and read about some opinions about this topic.

As for me personally, I was not always as informed as I am now. Not to say that I'm perfectly un-biasedly informed now, but back in my under-classmen years of high school, I pledged the flag and said the Allegiance. But, like most kids in my school, I had no idea what I was saying or why. I just said it because I had been sayng ever since kindergarden, and it was a habit. You do something enough times, and you just don't think about it after awhile.

Well this year, as I became more politically active and informed, I actually realized what the pledge actually said. After witnessing what I had witnessed and knowing what's going on in the un-known "quagmire zones" in this country, I no longer believed that this country supports with "liberty and justice for all." Even though I have my seperate problems with religion and I consider myself more of a hippie or an Agnostic atheist, the phrase "Under God" really has no problem with me. That's not the issue here. At first, my protesting was subtle if not downright tactless. I simply stood up, looked towards the flag, but I did not place my right hand over my heart or say the pledge. No one really noticed. Recently, (really just this morning) I have decided to up my actions just a little bit by not standing altogether for the pledge. I have to be honest, a part of me is hoping for a confrentation from anyone; a student, teacher, principal, anyone. People will probably ask me if I hate America, and honestly I dunno what my answer to that will be. Do I hate America? Hate is a strong word, but in short I do not like living here. I can't wait until I turn 18 and move out of this country...

Do I have the right to protest this way? And even if I do have the right, do you then believe that I have a good basis in protesting the flag? Hell, at least I'm not a hypocrite, saying something that I don't believe in. I realized what I was doing, and stopped doing something because it does not agree with my belief systems. What's wrong with that? Please, all opinions are welcome

 

While you certainly have the right your school may think differently. Generally I'll stand in a small setting out of respect for others beliefs but that's as far as it goes.

 

My kids did the same thing and took some crap for it,but they didn't bend.They said they felt like robots standing and mumbling thru the pledge.I kept my seat once at a b-ball game ,but the flag was right above my head and 12,000 people were looking right at me!!Or so it felt.Do what you feel is right for you.

 

Yeah, I stand but don't say anything no one has ever complained

 

Why do we call ourselves free?Everyone in the world has free health care but us.....
Cuba has free health and we don't!!!!!
Yeah our real problems exist in The contoversy over Rosie Odonald and our kids saying the pledge....lol...You know what would be great if Amnericans finally gatherd there nerve up and relized whats really important. Our people..Yes all of them..( America!!!!Geography wise ,consists of the tip[ of South AMERICA!!You know where those damn Mexicans are.Oh and ALASKA!!!!!!OUR PEOPLE NEED HEALTH CARE>>AND OUR REALL FREEDOMS BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!STAND UP FOR SOMETHING..Oh sorry I,ve been out of pocket.Ive been acting on beliefs instead of just typing!!!!!!!!

 

Everyone is crazy...I drove myself ther by doing what everyone else wants me to instead of what I want to do..Insanity just means you understand the wows of life better. Medication and The doctors who prescribe it are to keep those of us really understand at bay.By calling us crazy..If where crazy what is sane???? i

 

The constitution provides for separation of church and state. the public school system is run by the state. therefore the phrase under god is technically a violation of that section of the constitution. I would not have a problem with this except for the fact that during school i was threatened with being sent to the office for not standing and saying the pledge. Personally that sounds like some sort of fascist 1984 like police state to me. Not a supposed republic for the people freedom to choose to be an atheist and proud of it i might ad. Religion is for brainwashed sheep who can't find peace in the fact that they have no soul and when you die your atoms will decompose back into the earth as minerals and that is that.

 

People get harassed for not pledging allegiance? Wow. I stopped standing for the flag 6th grade, and by 9th I never even turned to look at the flag. Never once did anyone say anything. I never thought of it as a form of protest though, I just didn't pledge my allegiance to that flag.

 

Thats what Im saying man..People dont even have the right to free healthcare..You really dont have freedom of speach...I mean.If our sick cant even get health care how do you expect to have a say in something like freedom of religion. Your not.Plain and simple...YOUR Not!!!!We are lead to believe that the people of and Cuba and all who stay there willingly are evil. lol...Ironicly under the same stance the people that do try to leave are deported and treated as criminals...They as you know are the reason our spoiled over privaledged under achieving children and all there vanity cant get a job...lol...Anyone in the United Stataes and all its so called glory should have the right to choose religion..State and helath care...Men and women fighting to support themselves and thier counrty,are being forced out of thier homes and forced out of doctors offices strickedly because of their not wealthy..All I'm saying is .If the fact that you were singled out because of your religion, makes you so angry..HOW DOES THE FACT THAT MILLIONS OF AMERICANS ARE SINGLED OUT AND LEFT TO DIE BECAUSE OF MONEY>>>but That horrible EVIL country CUBA gives free health care to thier people.You know right before the kill them for not supporting the drug carteal..After all they want them healthy and happy when they die..If your beliefs are worth speaking about make sure your really heard..That you really make your piont and make real waves...Know more than just your problem.Know everyones.

 

i didnt read all the posts but heres what i have to say, u should be able to choose whether or not you say the pledge of alegiance in school... at my highschool i went to we'd say the pledge every g-d morning in first p. n i remember a few times if someone did not stand up the teacher would bitch at them like a little fuck head. i mean, i have respect for the soldiers fighting in the war. that became the purpose of saying the pledge at my school, but if i disagree with it becuz it has the word God in it, which at the time i was a full blown atheist... u know. n i never even said the pledge, no one did. we'd just stand there and stare at the wall or day dream for 30 or so seconds. yea, lame shit. lame when they try to infringe your rights, becuz hey if u dont do what they say they'll just send u down to the office. little did the teachers realize how much of a joke they became after alls said and done.. anyways kind of got off topic there, but yeah thats what i think.

 

well ok mr biology major glad 2 see u have died and come back to life so u have the credibility to make that statement, that humans have no soul, and thats that!
SIKE~!!~!

 

I dont want people to misunderstand what Im saying.Ok..
As long as your issue is the only issue riding your thought you will not be heard you have to unite.To do that just as if your wre a attorney geting ready to go to court for a big murder case..lol.Only thing I could come up with..lol.Anyway...Part of your evidence is creating ,showing ,and prooving a pattern.Instead of using tax money to help with the care of our people We use are tax money on to fight The supream Court on an issue that {i think Iam the sum of...sumed it up} shouldnt even be an issue in a country with the right to choose your religion being the entire bases the country was based on.Im dump founed.Like you said..lol( Im going to call you Water89}Most people dont even say the damn thing we just mumble the word and stare at a wall.
But..In the same since....Since religion is the main topic..For those who wish to say it let them have the choose to... No more than you should be told that you have to .Should anyone say somone else cant.!!!!

 

The idea that we have feelings and thought but know soul.Is just as far fetched as saying that the earth was made in 6 days.Yes 6 days.On the 7th day remember he took a break.

 

i have a different interpretation of what a soul really is than what it may say in the bible or other religious book..

 

I also. You cant define a persons soul.They know where they stand.There for they know there soul.I see the bible as a really old history book and you can learn alot from the past.But I dont believe in dwelling on the past.So it think its ludirous to think we are all going to dive into the depths of hell if we dont follow it..My soul to me is being intune with my conscience.

 

u mean, as in the bible defining a persons soul? i never read what the bible defines the soul as, but i think i see what you're saying. but my interpretation of a soul is different than "knowing your soul".. but yeah getting off topic

 

Religion was never the main topic of this thread, well at least by me anyway. I just wanted to know if you people on here think that the pledge is something that Americans have the right to protest. This is about the Constitution and what schools think about this form of protesting, not about Creationism or "the soul..."

 

I think saying the pledge in schools is a good thing. It lets our children know that we aren't just a bunch of people but that they are part of a country, and that they should support their country. We live in a country where the people are supposed to count (I know a lot of you say we don't count, but if you tried hard enough you can make a difference). So it's good for kids to realize that they are a part of this country. They need a sense of ownership of this country because in the next generation or 2 it will be theirs. Do I support people's right to protest the pledge? Yes. We have that freedom too.

And religion may not be a topic of the thread, but they stuck religion in the pledge, so it's relevant. We're supposed to have freedom of religion (or of no religion) in this country. So I think putting 'under God' in the pledge is divisive, when the purpose of the pledge is to bring us together.

 

You have the right to not stand or say the pledge. I stopped at 12. Never had a teacher say anything. This is still more or less a free country. And religion didn't come into it for me it was about pledging allegiance to anything. I am an individual and I will make my own informed decisions. I will not blindly pledge allegiance to anyone or any group. That is my religion.

 

In a nutshell..lol..
Yes.Im thinking about that...Among other things there are alot of things that I've been thinking about.Its like Ive steped into the twilight zone..Eveything I was taught in school. Whats the true purpose of our countries existance.
Yes we came as mostly cristian.True...BUT......
Our constitution states that ANYONE!!!!! has the right and freedom to believe and express thier religion.Our for fathers wanted to protect ANYONE!!!! from ever being persecutted as they were.This wasnt just a heat of the moment speach..These men took great time and effort to go over this document knowing it still had flaws and made outs to fix them,but still in it remains the word...ANYONE!!