Lawmakers in the Texas House voted 124-5 on Friday to add Judeo-Christian values to the state pledge of allegiance with the addition of the words “under God.”
The issue will now be considered in the Texas Senate.
House Bill 1034 moves the pledge, which students are required to recite each morning, will now read: “Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, on state under God and indivisible.”
State Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-150, who authored the legislation, said the change would be reflective of the American pledge of allegiance, which has included the phrase “under God” since 1954.
The Tomball-area representative said she has received much support for House Bill 1034 from her constituents and Christians from across the state.
“What they value most is that this bill is found in a time and day when people want to take God out of everything,” Riddle said.
Amy Everhart Davis, communications director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas said while the state chapter had no official comment on Riddle’s bill, the group has received a number of calls regarding the legislation.
A provision in the bill excuses students from the pledges if a parent or guardian makes a written request.
The legislature passed a law in 2003 requiring students in Texas public schools to recite the pledge to the U.S. flag, the Texas flag and to observe a one-minute period of silence for prayer, meditation or reflection each morning.
The ACLU has tackled matters of religion in Texas public schools before, most recently before the U.S. Supreme Court in the 2000 ruling of Santa Fe Independent School District vs. Jane Doe.
The court ruled 6-3 that prayer in public schools violates the First Amendment.
In 2003, however, The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a decision by the Ninth Circuit of the Court of Appeals in Newdow vs. U.S., stating the U.S. flag pledge does not violate the First Amendment despite the appearance of the line “one nation under God.”
Thirty-six states have enacted law requiring the recitation of the pledge to the U.S. flag.
Earlier this session, the State Senate unanimously passed State Sen. Dan Patrick’s, R-7, first resolution directing the State Preservation Board to permanently affix the words “In God We Trust” above the Lt. Governor’s podium in the Senate chamber in Austin.
Patrick called SR 141 a “triumph,” adding “…it sends a message to everyone who comes in here that this Senate stands for Judeo-Christian values.” The measure was passed Jan. 30.
A similar resolution also passed 141-3 in the House, carried by State Rep. Richard Raymond, D-42.
Brandon De Hoyos is a journalist in Houston, Texas. He can be reached at brandon.dehoyos@yahoo.com
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2 users commented in " Texas to merge pledge, ‘under God’ "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackHouse Bill 1034 constitutes a big step in the wrong direction. It would seem that the sponsor of this bill, State Rep. Debbie Riddle, and other Texas lawmakers who support the bill overlook is what the founding fathers understood to be absolutely vital to the health and harmony of our great American society. I am talking about the separation of church and state.
Ms. Riddle is quoted as saying “What they [supporters of this bill] value most is that this bill is found in a time and day when people want to take God out of everything.” Let’s be real: There is plenty of religion in America. There is no shortage of churches, and people are free to worship–or not–to their heart’s content. Children are free to pray (privately) in school.
Ms. Riddle’s justification of adding “under God” to the Texas Pledge to reflect the 1954-adulterated version of the Pledge of Allegiance is flawed reasoning too: Two wrongs don’t make a right.
So what is the real reason for crafting such a bill? Certainly, it caters to the current religious majority in this country, so from that standpoint understandably positions it to be popular. But is it right to use government (e.g. public schools) to forward the position of the religious majority, which is at the moment happens to be Christianity?
That kind of logic is–as the founding fathers knew–a recipe for trouble. I understand that the fastest growing religion in America is Islam. How would Ms. Riddle and fellow supporters of this bill feel about adding “under Allah” instead of “under God”? That would seem logical if there comes a time when Islam becomes the majority religion in this country–if we neglect the importance of the separation of church and state and embrace the “majority rules” mentality when it comes to state-sponsored religion. That is the underlying spirit of this bill.
The provision in the bill excusing students from the pledges at a parent’s or guardian’s written request is not at all a solution: Any child so exempted becomes an immediate outcast, and in particular, a religious outcast. I have personally experienced how horrible that is in Texas schools.
If we are going to mandate that students recite pledges, they need to be pledges that can be recited proudly by ALL children–including, religious, non-religious, and everywhere in between. Adding words like “under God” or “under Allah” serve to focus attention on religious differences and divide our children into believers, non-believers, and agnostics. This should not be the role our public schools, and it is shameful for any of our state institutions–especially our schools–to engage in practices like this.
Putting theology into the Texas Pledge is nothing but pure religious bigotry. In the 1950’s, when this was done for the very same reason with the US pledge, it may have been a bit more understandable with the communist scare. But today there is no justification for governemt-endorsement of theological doctrines. It is shameful and reflects poorly on our state at a time when our country is locked in a death-struggle with fundamentalist Islamic fanatics who assert the very same bigoted doctrines on behalf of their equally hate-filled “religion.”
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