For many public school student in America, every school day starts the same way.
The bell rings, they file into the their classrooms, and then a few minutes are spent standing beside their desk with their hand over their heart as they recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
It may not be very fun, but this is the way things have been done in America for years.
Over 100 years, actually.
It’s only 31 words, so it’s not like it’s especially long to recite. But for students who don’t want to say it, the problem not lie in the length, but in their own personal reasons.
Are students legally required to say the Pledge?
Well, that’s a little complicated.
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But, according to Bustle , ACLU lawyer Lee Rowland said students can’t be forced to recite the Pledge since this violates their First Amendment right to freedom of speech and religion.
However, many schools across the country still force students to stop, stand, and recite the Pledge.
According to The Washington Post , there have been some cases where students have actually been punished for not participating in the Pledge – like one student who said they were expelled.
At one elementary school in Pennsylvania, it wasn’t the students who took issue with the Pledge.
Rather, it was some concerned parents who didn’t like what the principal said following the Pledge over the PA system to the entire school.
Once everyone finished reciting, the principal would yell “God bless America!”
This was a long-standing tradition at Sabold Elementary School, Yahoo News reported. But not any more.
One particularly unhappy parent decided to complain about the principal’s choice of words.
They reached out to watchdog group Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a non-profit designed to protect the separation of church and state.
The FFRF then wrote a letter to the superintendent in which they detailed how saying “God Bless America” following the Pledge of Allegiance violated the U.S. Constitution.
“This is government speech and the government cannot promote and endorse a religion.”
The writer, FFRF attorney Christopher Line, argued that by “repeating and reciting this religious message everyday” instills in children that there is a God.
“It’s essentially saying a prayer.”
Line argues that in broadcasting the message over the PA, the school is ostracizing non-religious Americans.
“The statement compels a belief in God which excludes almost 40 percent of Americans born after 1987 who are not religious.”
He also cites the First Amendment in his letter which he accuses the school of violating.
“The repeated recitation of a religious message in the school setting violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits public schools from advancing, supporting or promoting religion.”
At the end of the letter, Line demands that the school must “cease immediately”.
After considering their legal options, the school district reportedly had no choice but to comply and have since banned the principal from declaring “God Bless America” after reciting the Pledge over the PA system.
Some parents and members of the community are really upset about the ban.
“I mean what’s the next step? Are they going to come here when a student sneezes and the principal says ‘God Bless You?'” Michael Puppio, a member of the Springfield Republican party, told [CBS Philly] in an interview.
Others, however, support the FFRF and the ban.
““I’m glad that our principal made the choice that he made by not saying it over the loud speaker. I think children are very impressionable,” parent Larisa Schreiber said. “There are people that don’t believe in God.”