Students must remember ‘God’ in Texas pledge
Texas students will have four more words to remember when they head back to class this month and begin reciting the state’s pledge of allegiance. This year’s Legislature added the phrase “one state under God” to the pledge, which is part of a required morning ritual in Texas public schools along with the pledge to the U.S. flag and a moment of silence. State Rep. Debbie Riddle, who sponsored the bill, said it had always bothered her that God was omitted in the state’s pledge…. “Personally, I felt like the Texas pledge had a big old hole in it, and it occurred to me, ‘You know what? We need to fix that,’ ” said Riddle, R-Tomball. “Our Texas pledge is perfectly OK like it is with the exception of acknowledging that just as we are one nation under God, we are one state under God as well.”
Here in Texas, there’s nothing quite like ensuring that our children our force-fed narrow-xenophobic Christian dogma and doctrine…in our public schools. Yes, if you happen to be one of the unenlightened minority who haven’t seen the Light, your tax dollars are going to support the propagation of Christianity in our public schools. Hey, if you happen to be a Christian, I suppose that’s wonderful news, but what if you’re a Buddhist like me? What if you happen to believe in a religion other than Christianity? Well, I suppose you could give your child a written note to excuse them from the Pledge of Allegiance; otherwise your can just stand their heathen self up and take the pledge like every other good, God-fearing Christian.
Riddle’s ignorant, intolerant religiosity is certainly her right in a free society, but as an elected public official, she has a higher responsibility than merely propagating her own narrow religiosity. What I object to and resent is her willingness to force her narrow religiosity upon all Texas students regardless of the religious faith they happen to profess. Yes, Christianity in it’s various flavors is the undisputed majority religion in Texas. I get that. My problem is that there’s the very basic issue of the separation of Church and State that is being violated by Riddle’s efforts. This may be a seemingly small issue in the overall scheme of things, but our freedoms aren’t disassembled with large, powerful sledgehammer blows; they chipped away with a sculptor’s chisel.
What’s next? Brown shirts and Sam Browne belts? Loyalty oaths? Yes, I’m being deliberately alarmist here, but how far are we really away from these things? I’d be willing to bet it’s not nearly as far as you might think.
