Student takes 'under God' out of pledge, feels the heat [View All]

[Newsjock]

http://www.tribnet.com/news/story/4913718p-4848428c.html

MARTHA MODEEN; The News Tribune

A Spanaway Lake High School senior has been banned from TV production assignments for the rest of the year because he altered the Pledge of Allegiance during a student-produced broadcast.

The student, Kenny Hess, removed the words "under God" from the pledge, which is shown with an American flag background on classroom TV throughout the school. Hess also declined to recite the phrase and, instead read, "one nation ... indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

School officials said they've punished Hess for misusing school equipment to deliver a personal message.

... Hess, an avowed atheist since sixth grade, thinks he's forced to listen to a religious statement when he hears the pledge. Last week, his world current events class debated Newdow's case. After one student said, "Christians are forcing us to listen to this," Hess vowed that he could make students not listen to the words. The phrase "under God" was added to the pledge by congressional vote in 1954, during the Cold War.

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