Alonzo Fyfe

If I may, I would like to request that young readers among us (or any young readers that the people on this board knows) accept the following assignment.

For those in school, your assignment is to write a 1000 word essay on the appropriateness or inappropriateness of having a school ceremony where students are given a choice to either pledge to "one nation, under God" or remain silent.

And to hand this essay to your homeroom teacher, and your principal, on the first day of classes at the start of the new school year.

Note: This assignment is not meant just for atheists. It is a mistake to conceive of this issue as one of "atheists vs. christians." It is an issue of "those who favor CSS, and those who oppose it." (Therefore, do not think of this assignment as revealing your atheism if you wish to keep it secret -- the arguments are neutral with respect to belief about God.)

Note: This is not an essay on whether the founding fathers were Christian or not. That is not relevant -- and it gets you into a bog from which there is no escape.

I would also suggest that this not be a paper solely on whether such a ceremony is constitutional or not. Slavery was once constitutionally protected -- that did not make it right. So, even if CSS is consitutional, include arguments as to why this is good or bad.

If you need any help completing this assignment, I am certain that there are many people here who would be willing to help.

Nikolai

My opinion is that a well-writen and consice letter to the editor will acomplish more then a 1000 word essay given to the principal.

Alonzo Fyfe

Why is this an either/or question?

Do both.

(Though, please note, a typical newspaper prints less than 1% of the letters it receives.)

Daggah

I'm 3 for 4 for being printed in mine.

Alonzo Fyfe

That is an impressive record.

(Note: Mine is 22 out of 24 -- but I studied the rules and make sure only to submit letters under conditions of optimum print posability.)

Still, the question is: What next?

For any paper of significant size, once you get one letter published, you cannot get the next one published for several months (2 to 6, depending on the paper). And your letter blocked the publication of anybody else's letter that said basically the same thing.

The 1% rule still holds as the statistical average -- the existence of people like you and I who have higher percentages only suggests that there are others (lots of others) with lower percentages.

Teachers and school principals are opinion leaders. Plus, they are in a situation where they are likely to read through a longer essay on a subject such as the pledge written by a student.

It is an opportunity worth taking advantage of.

szcax

Hey-

I'm a junior in high school, and although I'm a bit shy to send this sort of letter out, I'd still like to fiddle around with some ideas and see if I can manage to write a half decent paper about the topic. One question, however:

I've heard lots of people claim that the wall between church and state is beneficial to both xians and atheists. I'm confused how christians benefit from this wall. I thought it would be every xian's wet dream to be able to pray in school / get gov't funded churches etc. without that pesky constitution getting in the way. Can anyone lend me a hand and explain? Thanks in advance.
-szcax

Toto

Christianity has benefitted from strict separation because religion in this country is not entwined with government bureaucracy. It has had to go out and compete in the market place, and sell itself. Compare the situation in Europe, where most democratic countries have an established church supported by tax revenue. The churches have not had to compete to survive, and they are virtually empty.

Buffman

szcax

Church(Religion)-State(Government) separation, in this country, has been more beneficial to religious pluralism and liberty than anywhere else in the world. It protects minority religious and non-religious beliefs from the potential tyranny of the religious (Sect or Denomination) majority.--- Though perhaps not the most historically definitive essay on the period discussed, you might start by reading this in order to get a quick overview:

<a href="http://www.ifas.org/fw/9606/newengland.html" target="_blank">http://www.ifas.org/fw/9606/newengland.html</a>

(Please note that the 1849 date should be 1649. Additionally, nine of the 13 colonies had established state churches.)

Now you should familiarize yourself with the information here:

<a href="http://www.au.org/about.htm" target="_blank">http://www.au.org/about.htm</a>

Keep in mind what could happen if one religious denomination became established by the current government. At the moment, our government (with the assistance of five of the current nine Supreme Court Justices) is only attempting to establish Christianity, in general, as the national religion. However, if they can accomplish that, there is no reason why they couldn't pick a specific Christian denomination to be the national one. (And we would be right back where we were before the Constitution and Bill of Rights were ratified...religious freedom only if it is the government established one...and we would be forced to devote part of our tax monies for its support and growth.)

Finally, if you are truly serious about understanding the significance of Church-State separation, then you will find just about everything you could ever wish to know at this URL:

<a href="http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html" target="_blank">http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html</a>

I hope this is helpful.

[ August 15, 2002: Message edited by: Buffman ]

[ August 15, 2002: Message edited by: Buffman ]</p>

Caelestis Impius

hmmmmm...

I've always wanted to do something along these lines (HS junior), i've written essays about it, just not this public or confrontational i've also talked about these types of matters with teachers and fellow students...


hmmmmm.... i dare to say i'm interested though quite worried about the fallout

Alonzo Fyfe

I cannot fault you here. All I did once, in school, was answer 'no' the question of whether I believed in God, and received two years of beatings and other abuse from the "Christian" classmates.

Your first, best option is to make this the point of your paper. Submit a paper (anonymous if you would like) explaining how wrong it is to go to a government school and be intimidated by a pervasive atmosphere of fear and hostility against any who do not pledge allegiance to God.

I mean, think about it. How fair is it -- how right is it -- that you are made to be concerned about the fallout for expressing an opinion that you, supposedly, have every right to express? So, write about how wrong THAT is.

If you are concerned that an anonymous letter may not be taken seriously, note that the founding fathers, writing to get the Constitution ratified, wrote The Federalist Papers anonymously. The soundness of an argument is independent of the name (if any) attached to it.

Or, you can temper your fallout by adjusting the tone of the paper. The paper could be written in the tone of: "Please help me to understand. It seems to me that saying the Pledge in this school does violate the 1st Amendment of the Constitution, and that it says that only monotheists can be truely loyal Americans. I would like to know where my reasoning might have gone astray."

Or, it is ethical to lie in self-defense. Just as the person hiding Jews in his attic from the NAZIs can permissibly lie to the NAZI to protect the Jews from a greater wrong, there is nothing unethical about you lying in self-defense to protect yourself from those who you think may wrong you.

You can say, "A friend of mine sent this to me," or "I downloaded this from the web" or "I got this piece of spam in my email last night, and I would like for you to tell me if it makes sense."

There are a number of ways to deal with the fallout.

[ August 15, 2002: Message edited by: Alonzo Fyfe ]</p>