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TOP 10 2007: NO. 7 - Couple vies to get ‘God’ out of pledge
By SARAH BLASKOVICH, Community Editor
The Carrollton parents who are suing Gov. Rick Perry in two separate lawsuits were denied a request to keep children from reciting the Texas Pledge of Allegiance in late August.
David and Shannon Croft, suing on behalf of their children currently enrolled at Rosemeade Elementary School, are however not yet finished fighting God language in public schools. They will still appear in court to dispute the case against the Texas pledge. The trial date has not yet been set, but the Croft’s lawyer suggested that the case will be heard in September 2008, Shannon Croft said.
“It was a little disappointing, but I can’t say I was surprised either,” Shannon Croft said. “It’s a very controversial topic, so for the judge to rule in our favor would have really shaken things up.”
“It seems strange to me that kids, now starting in kindergarten are mandated to pledge allegiance to really, anything. They don’t really know what they’re saying,” Shannon Croft said.
U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade ruled against the Crofts because their attorney Dean Cook failed to show that the Croft’s children would suffer “irreparably injury” by continuing to have students say the state pledge each morning.
The Texas Education Code requires all public school classrooms to recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. flag and the state flag once during each school day. Students are allowed to opt out of saying either or both pledges with a written note from their parents.
The Crofts don’t think that is enough, Shannon Croft said.
One argument made by Greg Abbot, attorney general of Texas, is that if the Crofts are worried about their children hearing the phrase “under God” in the pledge, they should be challenging both the U.S. pledge and the Texas pledge, which have the same language. The Crofts current suit opposes only the Texas pledge.
“Those children will continue to hear the identical phrase ‘under god’ in the U.S. pledge, and thus will continue to suffer the same illusory injury,” reads Abbot’s defendant’s brief.
When the Texas pledge was changed this year, one of the reasons that “one state under God” was added was to mirror the U.S. pledge, which in part reads “one nation under God.”
The Crofts contend that their children should not be obligated to pledge allegiance to anything until they are old enough to make a decision for themselves, Shannon Croft said.
“I can see if you were a soldier, or a congressman, or the president, where you would need to pledge allegiance,” she said. “But for this to be in our public schools, I just feel like that’s inappropriate.”
David Croft also comments about the trial and about his experiences in his blog, david-wallace-croft.blogspot.com.
Contact Community Editor Sarah Blaskovich at 972-628-4074 or at SBlaskovich@acnpapers.com.
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