Massachusetts Group Opposes Pledge of Allegiance, Says National Anthem Is Preferred
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Brookline Pax, a progressive activist group that had called for a ban on reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in one Massachusetts town's schools is now singing a different tune.
The Pledge is offensive in the group's eyes because it is a loyalty oath, but co-chair Martin Rosenthal told The Boston Globe that singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” would be an acceptable replacement to the pledge because the song is simply patriotic.
“I don’t find it as divisive,” he told The Globe.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In September, the group called on public schools in Brookline to ban students from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, saying it has no educational value and placed pressure on children to participate.
Much of the prohibitive language in the group's earlier resolution has been dropped, and the new resolution calls on the school committee to give individual school principals more control over Pledge of Allegiance policies, the paper reported.
The new resolution also calls for the Pledge to be recited in large assemblies rather than a classroom to avoid pressure for children to participate, but the school committee chairwoman told the Globe she didn't expect the district's policy to be revisited.