Why do you assume that a student who does not wish to recite the pledge is not patriotic? Marc
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Scarberry, Mark Sent: Friday, September 10, 2004 2:51 PM To: 'Law & Religion issues for Law Academics' Subject: RE: Required to stand for the Pledge? Putting aside the issues raised by "under God" in the Pledge: Can it be true that the school has no right to try to convince students to show respect for the flag and for the country? Must the school be neutral on the value of showing such respect? Schools routinely try to convince students of various matters -- the need for good nutrition, why smoking is harmful, why we should recycle, the importance of resisting peer pressure with regard to use of drugs, etc. It seems to me that Barnette stands for the proposition that a school may not require a student to express a patriotic sentiment; it does not stand for the proposition that the school must be neutral on the value of patriotic expressions (or on other issues). If the school were required to be neutral, the school could hardly sponsor and invite participation in a patriotic exercise--which Barnette certainly does not prohibit. If being called in to the principal's office is best seen as punitive or seriously coercive, then Barnette prohibits it. That may be the best view here, but I think we should be careful not to think that the school must be neutral. A friendly, noncoercive chat about the value of patriotism and the good reasons for making a patriotic expression would not violate Barnette. Of course, it may be difficult to think that a mandated visit to the principal's office would be for a friendly and noncoercive chat. Mark S. Scarberry Pepperdine University School of Law _______________________________________________ To post, send message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others. _______________________________________________ To post, send message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
