Well yesterday it was a republican who wanted to ban people on welfare or in bankrupty from buying lottery tickets, and now Arizona Republicans want graduates to site the same oath that I had to recite in order to join the Air Froce. Failure to recite the pledge results in failure to receive diploma.
Link:
A group of Arizona politicians — all Republicans, of course — have proposed a law (House Bill 2467) requiring public high school students to recite the following oath in order to graduate:
I, ___, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge these duties; So help me God.
Because obviously nothing says 'taking this obligation freely' under the threat of not graduating.
The article I linked to makes an excellent point:
In other words, if this bill were to become a law, atheists would either not be allowed to graduate… or they would be forced to lie so they could graduate. Neither option is acceptable.
This is the same thing that gay soldiers had live through, and it is unacceptable.
This bill is the work of Representatives Bob Thorpe, Sonny Borrelli, Carl Seel, T.J. Shope, Jeff Dial, David Livingston, Chester Crandell, and Steve Smith.
Smith and Shope have also introduced legislation demanding that all students in grades 1-12 recite the Pledge of Allegiance (with “Under God”) every day. At least in that bill, students can get out of saying it with their parents’ permission.
No such exemption exists in the Loyalty Oath.