Why Delaware may end requiring students to pledge allegiance to the American flag

[Delarage]

House Bill 107 by Rep. Paul Baumbach, D-Newark, would still require that students pledge allegiance to the American flag every school day. But instead of requiring all students to cite the pledge, the bill would let students who don't want to participate to stand silently or stay seated.

If Delaware removes the requirement, it would be in line with a U.S. Supreme Court decision from about 78 years ago.

In the 1943 case, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the Supreme Court ruled that such a requirement violated First Amendment rights because it forced students to declare a belief.

Baumbach was quick to point that ruling out, arguing that you can't "support the Bill of Rights in pieces."

https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/politics/2021/02/25/delaware-could-erase-law-requiring-students-pledge-allegiance-flag/4572601001/

I always thought it was Hitler-youth-like and somewhat un-Christian, actually, to pledge allegiance to an inanimate object.

[magicarpet]

1. "......with Freedom and Justice For All."

That's where cognitive dissonance smacks me upside the head until blood trickles out of my ears and nose.

[msongs]

2. it's idol worship nt

[hedda_foil]

3. It's the GD "under god" part that makes me feel mightily queasy.

I'm among the seniors who remember when the anti-commie conservo-christians of the Eisenhower era shoved it between one nation and indivisible, where it's remained uncomfortably since 1954

[Gaugamela]

4. The problem with letting students not participate (which is their right anyway) is that it singles

them out for bullying and abuse. And unfortunately the flag has become a de facto white nationalist symbol. Moreover, our service members and government officials pledge allegiance to the Constitution, not the flag.

Nothing about this makes sense to me.

[gibraltar72]

5. Witness a lie every time you say it.