Did you refuse to say the pledge in school?

[bloom]

Poll question: Did you refuse to say the pledge in school?

Did you refuse to say the pledge in school (such as in class at the beginning of the day when "everybody" else was saying it) on religious or other grounds?

[warrior1]

1. This is the truth

Me and brother (twin) always sneezed when we said it.

[0rion]

2. I'm not pledging allegiance to GOD I'm pledging allegiance to this country

I had no problems saying the pledge or take the military oath.

[Journeyman]

14. But your pledge to the flag and military oath. . .

are two separate, distinctly different promises. In the first, you are expressing devotion to a symbol of the nation, while with your military oath you pledge loyalty and affirm your defense of the nation's ideals as codified in the Constitution.

For me, once I swore my oath to the Constitution, I feel no need to continually reaffirm my allegiance to symbols and puffery. I will never again plege allegiance or affirm my support of the Constitution. I figure it this way, if you truly believe what you affirm under oath, you should never have need to repeat yourself.

In other words, the only time I'll ever revisit that oath is if I feel a need to renounce it.

[HornBuckler]

3. I Went Back And Forth

When I Was In Kindergarten I Know I Recited The Pledge, And Continued To Until Around 3-4th Grade When I Understood The Meaning Of The Words. It Was Then That I Politely Stood Up And Spoke Nothing From There On Out.

[corporatewhore]

i also refused to say the pledge to the cross when i was in a fundie

school .They were similar in idea pledgeing blind alligence to intangible ideas

[Another Bill C.]

4. Recited it every day.

There was no reference to God, Zod, Zeuss, or anyone else in it at that time.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Scottie72]

8. Please watch your use of language

for some here might find that very offensive.

[Warpy]

6. I came up with alternative words

Kids around me who giggled were sent to the principal's office.

[sweetheart]

11. Yes i mumbled something

Not really knowing what it was, trying to make a noise with the
rest of the class. I really did not understand where "witches
stands", but i'd seen the wizard of oz... and that left me with an
obscure beginning. "Invisible" sounded good. :-) "with liberty
and justice for all" meant we could go back to playing.

Clearly i did not learn to be a flag-cult member. It must have
backfired... probably those dang witches.

[mike1963]

7. I did recite it up until 1954 when they added the "2 words" At age 12, I

was just beginning to escape from the fundy mindset I was raised in.
And I caught a lot of shit for refusing...I even called the teacher a "son of a bitch" when he condemned me.

[WildClarySage]

9. I always said allegiance to the flag of the united states of america

and to the republic of richard stands

[bloom]

10. I wasn't really "brave" enough to refuse until high school.

I think people who say that 9 year old girls could "just refuse to say it" are not realistic. And I agree 100% with Newdow that children should not be put in the position by the school or any public entity where they have a conflict between what they learn at home in a religious sense and what they are taught to say in the pledge.



"There's a principle here," he told the justices in his closing moments, "and I'm hoping the court will uphold this principle so that we can finally go back and have every American want to stand up, face the flag, place their hand over their heart and pledge to one nation, indivisible, not divided by religion, with liberty and justice for all."

Dr. Newdow, 3/24/2004

[kixot]

12. No.

I was brought up Jehova's Witness before converting to Catholicism and so I fought a few battles with teachers over my rights. Add to that the fact that my mom escaped Castro's Cuba and so was extremely weary of forced expressions of nationalism.

[utopian]

13. I didn't refuse

But my 13 year old son does,and he suffers the consequences. His teachers are on him about it, the other kids pitch him shit, and his principal wants to know why he's "against America". So far, he's stood his ground admirably.

[goodhue]

15. never was required at any school I ever attended

So there was no need to refuse.
Your poll has not applicable option for me.

[GregW]

16. Yes - mainly because I lived in another country

:eyes:

[Gloria]

17. Way back in the last century, I pledged...but didn't pray....back then

the HR teacher could read the Bible for 20 minutes!! One of mine did!

Later, when I used to go to soccer games at Giants Stadium, I never stood for the national anthem. I was already pissed.