Chelsea Stanton, a teen atheist out of New Jersey, is shaping up to be the next Jessica Ahlquist—who is an inspiration for young free thinkers all over the nation. The Collingswood High School senior has been repeatedly punished for refusing to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. She is a winner who wouldn't back down when those so-called authority tried to proverbially smack her down.
Chelsea Stanton objects to the obvious phrase "one nation under god," which wasn't originally in the pledge of allegiance until the 1950s. The phrase is a direct violation of the separation of church and state, so there's no question as to why this young girl was victorious against her school. She did some research and also found that it was ruled in the 1970s unconstitutional to require students to participate in standing and reciting the pledge.
Because of this young girl's intelligence and tenacity she is no longer being required by the Collingswood High School to participate. To be perfectly honest, the teen atheist should sue the school in civil court for forcing her to do so even though there has been a law against such behavior for over 30 years. She has been punished unfairly and treated like an outcast when the fact of the matter is that she is obviously more patriotic than these numbskulls who run her school.
Chelsea Stanton deserves mad respect and as many kudos as Jessica Ahlquist has received for suing her school for displaying a prayer banner. The United States is a secular nation and it's about time that the youth in these modern times put their feet down and demand that their educational institutions follow the law. Period!
Crime analyst and profiler Chelsea Hoffman can be found on The Huffington Post, Chelsea Hoffman: Case to Case and many other outlets. Follow @TheRealChelseaHon Twitter orclick here to contact Chelsea directly.
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Comments: 41
Not only is there the Church and State issue at play with the Pledge of Allegiance, there's the issue of the practice being pure indoctrination. I had to do this, everyday in school, went along with it, but somehow in the back of my mind felt creepy about it. If I were a young person in school today, I'd flat out refuse.
It seems to me that most Americans view the Pledge of Allegiance as a good thing, but think about what's going on there. Kids as young as five, who have yet to develop their capability for reasoning are compelled, at least by teacher and peer pressure to stand, face a symbol (flag), put their hand over heart, and recite some words that have been given to them to memorize. How would we feel if we were to see the same practice going on with the North Korean flag in a North Korean school, or Chinese, or Iranian. Of course we'd see that as indoctrination. To think that that's not what's going on in US schools is hypocrisy at it's worst.
How, exactly is she spitting on God and country? All that happened was she opted out of performing a ritual. That's it. Is it not a personal choice whether we believe in God or not?
I do praise her for being a free thinker with a free will, rather than a robot who stands on command and bows to a symbol while demonstrating reverence to something she doesn't believe in.
A group of adult Americans was shown a video of children engaged in a ritual. The sound was turned off, but it was explained to them that they were reciting a loyalty oath to the Soviet Union. The were outraged, stating that children of this age were too young to know what they were saying; that it is brain-washing and is what happens in countries without freedom.
But get this, instead of questioning what we are doing to our own children, when the sound was turned on and they realized the children were reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, they complained with no sense of hypocrisy, "You tricked us."
If you have absolute evidence of a god, post the equation, please.
If I was a middle aged man.. I'd be more inclined to learn about it, rather than lashing out about it with such hilarity.
That's just me though. :)
thanks for reading!
a win for justice, the act had already been declared unconstitutional.
(but for us atheists, it's also a win... it's really just a win for everyone)
Nobody should be forced to recite ANYTHING. This is America.
But since I was young I had friends who were Jehovahs Witnesses and they could not be required to salute the flag or say the pledge....Considering my nature when a youth, I would have done the same as this young lady.
I love my country but you can not force me!
And anyone who CHOOSES to be patriotic, ought to consider defending that, otherwise ...very hypocritical.
Also, I think a lot of people tend to forget that it isn't just a separation of one religion. It isn't about God versus the State. It is about any God, any religion, any deity. If she were asked to say one nation under Zeus, the Guru, Gaia, the Goddess and so on it would be the same issue. Kudos to her for understanding that and standing her ground for her rights.
You have gone too far here. There is no way of knowing who is more patriotic. Complete understanding of the US is not required to love the idea of the US.
Devotion to one's country does not always mean that one will understand or uphold the concepts upon which the country was founded.
Conversely, one could understand the constitution and laws perfectly, follow them to the letter, and yet despise the whole concept.
and that would make someone unpatriotic as far as the CONSTITUTIONAL republic of the United States of America and its true patriotic citizens are concerned. .
In the US this fervor coagulates around flag and country, and of course church and God. Much the same happens elsewhere, for instance, in Muslim countries. How else might one described all those sacrificial martyrs? People with this understanding of themselves and the world have been conditioned from childhood. That Jesuit saying -- give me the child for his first seven years, and I will have him for his whole life -- captures what is going on. Somehow people who support a particular religious point of view understand that the child who is not guided into a particular religious point of view is going to go feral, or worse: be captured by those dark forces that exist everywhere their religion of preference does not hold sway.
Trying to communicate through such conditioning is difficult. Religions have acquired centuries of experience deflecting and transmogrifying inquiry into their understandings. However the task for religions has grown more acute as global communications and the exchange of other points of view has increased. Despite the apparent resurgence of religiosity in United States, in some ways this is a last hurrah presaging if not hastening the reduction of traditional religion to background noise.
This young woman who has chosen to point out the obvious is doing what most everyone else with similar understanding cannot. No doubt she has suffered some grief from her conditioned peers for her trouble. It's great when these fresh new minds refuse to pretend.
Both in the US and across the world people are recognizing, acknowledging, and asking how to reconcile superstition with investigation and inquiry. In response, the religious -- people like Vic -- think that by asserting forcefully their superstitions, they can convince nonbelievers. Perhaps such people can go to bed each night confident that they have done all they could and so find restful sleep, but just because delusions are useful doesn't make them true. History is filled with examples where a traditional understanding was replaced by a more informed viewpoint. That continues even today, and one of the red hot points of contention is how we might best understand ourselves and the world in which we find ourselves. While a few people -- still, numbering in the tens, if not hundreds of millions -- clinging to formulations that more befit the world of 500 or 1000 years ago, many others who are not yet nonbelievers simply have put aside such questions or are practicing a sort of political correctness with vague non-conviction. Religions, in their desperation to maintain their influence and fortify their ranks, are resorting to threats as their more intellectual explanations have withered in the sunlight of science. What's sad about all this is that the adamant defense of religion really reflects a misunderstanding about our situation. Small but courageous actions like that of this young woman are part of the remedy.
I would love to extend a sympathetic ear if you'd like Chelsea.Hoffman@ChelseaHoffman.com is the email I use :) I am very, very extremely proud of you and others like Jessica Ahlquist, and many others who are doing what they can to stand up for those who do NOT want the nonsense (i.e. religion in school and other establishments of similar nature)
I'm so sorry that your relationship is strained with your family, and unfortunately it's something we all end up going through when we stand up for what we believe in. I can honestly tell you that I do not talk to ANYONE on my dad's side of the family for the very reason that I am not a spineless religionist. Of course, everyone on that side of the family are a few fries short of a full happy meal if you know what I mean ;)
Again, very proud of you fellow free thinker with the same name as myself :)
(In God We Trust) ;)
Hm...
In the meantime....I'll say a prayer for all you that are so disturbed about the Pledge of Allegiance having One nation Under God in it.....And thank every soldier that died so you could have the opportunity to express your view and every soldier that lost their legs that would LOVE to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.... and hey! Take a trip to an Arab country to see what it would be like if those soldiers didn't fight that fight!
Then after taking that trip can you report on how those women wish they were an American
and uh yeah, take a trip to an arab country if you want to live in a theocracy -- America isn't one ;)