A controversy is brewing in one community where the school district sent out an apology after the words “under God” were omitted from a reading of the Pledge of Allegiance at the high school.

“A mistake was made in the reading of the Pledge of Allegiance this morning at Prior Lake High School, and the phrase “under God” was unintentionally left out,” wrote an administrator for Minnesota’s Prior Lake Savage Area Schools on Facebook Jan. 5. “The reader got distracted, which resulted in the mistake. The Pledge will continue to be recited each week in its entirety, as it has been for the past several years.”

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But instead of pacifying, it seems the mea culpa incited irritation in many — over the fact that the school thought any apology would be needed for omitting “under God” in the first place.

More than 113 people “liked” a comment that praised leaving that phrase out of the 123-year-old recitation: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.“

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“Perhaps the student was one of the 11% or so students in the district who do not believe in God … and not satisfied having their religious liberty trampled each morning,” wrote the commenter a couple of hours after the apology was issued. “Besides, like many things, the original "one nation indivisible” is better — doesn’t promote one religion over another, or trample no religion.”



Prior Lake High School (Photo: SCS via Google Maps)

The pledge, in fact, has included “under God” only since Congress voted to add the words in 1954. “In order to push back against the atheistic communism of the Soviet Union, Americans re-embraced a religious identity,” One Nation Under God author Kevin Kruse explained to NPR about the addition.

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“I’m sure this student volunteered to say it or was chosen to and didn’t object,” another commenter countered, defending Prior Lake Savage administrators. “That being the case if you agree to say it, you say the whole thing to include under God.”

Yet the majority of those remarking on the controversy pledged their support to a Godless version of the oath. The critical comment: “And here I’d hoped you’d decided to go back to the original, more constitutional version,” scored 66 likes. And another person’s call to remove the two words “permanently,” insisting, “Children shouldn’t pledge allegiance to anything imaginary,” got the thumbs-up from another 53 people.

But no matter where students or their parents stand on the issue, it’s worth noting that no one is required to say it, in any form, in school if they don’t want to. As American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Rowland has told Yahoo Parenting, “The Supreme Court ruling that states students cannot be forced to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance is over 70 years old, and no public school in the country has the right to force a student to participate in it.”

(Top photo: Corbis Images)

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