In her freshman year, Samantha
Murphy made known the fact that Wisconsin’s Madison East High School (MSHS) did
not recite the Pledge of Allegiance each morning. Her family decided to talk to the principal
and school board, reminding them that it is a state law to offer the Pledge
every day. They pointed out Wisconsin
State Statute Chapter 118, Section 6, which states – “Every public school shall
offer the Pledge of Allegiance or the National Anthem in grades one to 12 each
school day.”
After months of waiting and deciding
if her family should go public with her school district’s unlawful-ness and
lack of patriotism, her school board finally obliged and started to offer the
Pledge of Allegiance daily.
Samantha said, “This went on without
issue from around January of 2013 until March 4th, 2014.” But then on March 4th, Samantha says her
school began to remove “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance, and added that
they thought they were “above the law.” On
the first day of revision, they took out the entire line “one nation under
God.” The next day, they merely skipped
the words “under God.” On the third day
(Thursday March 6th, 2014) they replaced the word “God” with “peace.”
We’ve all heard the assortment of
renditions of our National Anthem. But
now, MEHS has taken an artistic liberty with the Pledge of Allegiance … switching
the line “under God” to “under peace.”
MEHS is not above the law. The
Pledge of Allegiance does not have optional portions; and the term “under peace”
doesn't occur in the official wording.
I call upon the Wisconsin Attorney
General to enforce the law, and call to account the administrators of
MEHS. And I challenge the God-fearing students
of MEHS to restore “under God” with increased volume in their daily recitation.
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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