CA high school student punished for dropping ‘under God’ from Pledge of Allegiance

[progressoid]

Derek Giardina, 17, a student at West High School, said he was given detention and had points docked from his grade point average because he omitted the reference to God while fulfilling a class requirement that obliges students to lead the pledge 12 times every year.

Giardana, said he agreed to lead the pledge because it’s a requirement but would prefer to not recite it at all.

“I think it’s very wrong that you get disciplinary actions for thinking for yourself,” Giardana explained. “Personally I wouldn’t say the pledge at all, because I’m not necessarily very patriotic, and I’m not religious,”

Giardana admitted he had been warned after omitting the reference previously but still didn’t feel he should be punished for his religious beliefs.

“There’s something disciplinary happening because of my religious beliefs,” he said.

The school district is standing behind the administrators at West High saying that, while they respect everyone’s religious beliefs, if you lead the school in the pledge, it must be delivered in the traditional way.

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MORE: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/ca-high-school-student-punished-for-dropping-under-god-from-pledge-of-allegiance/

Video at link

Also...

[onager]

1. Posted yesterday...

But the more people hear about this BS, the better.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/123031060

[progressoid]

3. Thanks.

I should probably look first...

I've only been at DU and the intertubes intermittently since the election. Trying to straighten out my life.

It's not working. :sigh:

[Curmudgeoness]

2. "If you lead the school in the pledge,

it must be delivered in the traditional way."

Ummmm, what is the "traditional" way? How far back should we go for "traditional"? I have always heard that "under God" was added in 1954, but it was not added in my school until much later, if at all. I never remember it with the "under God" in there, so I did not learn it that way. I still refuse to say it this "new-fangled" way, and I applaud the student for having the conviction to do it.

I am sure that the original writer of the pledge would be appalled at this addition to the "traditional" pledge:

Bellamy's granddaughter said he also would have resented this second change. He had been pressured into leaving his church in 1891 because of his socialist sermons. In his retirement in Florida, he stopped attending church because he disliked the racial bigotry he found there.

http://www.oldtimeislands.org/pledge/pledge.htm

[JNelson6563]

4. There it is.

[onager]

5. Connections, connections...

TRIGGER WARNING - off-topic but what else is new...

SCI-FI CONNECTION #1 - Pledge of Allegiance author Francis Bellamy also had a pretty famous cousin, Edward Bellamy. Edward wrote one of the first American science-fiction novels in 1888, Looking Backward (From The Year 2000). The book was a huge popular success.

SCI-FI CONNECTION #2 - Bellamy's writing inspired a Los Angeles millionaire, Lewis Bradbury, to try and recreate Bellamy's futuristic visions in a real building. The result was The Bradbury Building, a Los Angeles landmark to this very day.

The architect who got credit for the final design of the Bradbury Building was George H. Wyman.

Wyman's grandson was famous science-fiction collector/journalist Forrest J. Ackerman, who founded "Famous Monsters of Filmland" magazine, among many other projects.

Once I had the great pleasure of visiting Ackerman's home - no special connections required, you just had to call him up and make an appointment. Among many incredible things in his house: the original "Maria" robot from the movie Metropolis, and a fan letter from a 10-year-old aspiring writer named Stephen King.

SCI-FI CONNECTION #3 - because of its still-futuristic interior, the Bradbury Building has appeared in many sci-films over the years, including Blade Runner - set, of course, in a dystopian Los Angeles of the future.

[Curmudgeoness]

7. I am totally confused and just a little spellbound.

Right now, I am wondering if all that you posted is true, and I am not sure if I care enough to check the facts.

But if true, Ackerman's house sounds like a special treat.

[onager]

8. Well, unlike stories about a certain Messiah...

You actually can fact-check what I wrote. Except for the stuff about Ackerman, which you'll just have to take on FAITH!1!

Yeah, Ackerman's house tour was amazing. At one point he showed us a photo, taken at a 1939 science-fiction convention in New York City.

IIRC, along with many other famous writers and Ackerman, the photo included Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury.

"Everybody in that photo had one thing in common," Ackerman said. "We were all staying at the same hotel, where dinner cost $1.50. And none of us could afford that dinner."

[Rob H.]

9. I'm officially jealous of you

You got to visit Forrest Ackerman's house?!? I heard he had quite a collection of memorabilia he'd amassed over the years. I'm also a Famous Monsters of Filmland fanboy--I loved that magazine when I was a kid.

[onager]

10. Link for you...

Here's a short article about the "Ackerman-sion," written in 2001 when Forry was still alive and doing his "open house" tours. Directions provided, in case you're ever in L.A. and want to drive by the place.

It describes some of his memorabilia. And yes, it was one incredible collection.

I was a Famous Monsters fanboy too. Sometimes, the terrible/great puns from that mag still pop into my head at odd times.

http://www.seeing-stars.com/Museums/ForrestAckerman.shtml

Everyone else - sorry for the topic derail.

[mr blur]

6. Doesn't the "traditional way" include the 'Nazi' salute?:

[onager]

11. Talk about the horns of a dilemma...

Traditional Way #1 - we didn't have to pay homage to a mythical deity, but did have to give a suspicious-looking salute. Until that became politically incorrect in the 1940s.

Traditional Way #2 - dodgy salute replaced by hand over heart, homage to mythical deity became mandatory in 1954.

We Americans usually skip the more interesting question, IMO - why are citizens of a supposedly free country swearing a State-imposed oath on a piece of cloth?