The Utah House of Representatives passed the Utah Pledge of Allegiance Bill Wednesday with a vote of 63-4, requiring Utah public school children to recite the pledge if Gov. Leavitt signs the bill.

"We've allowed the God-haters and the value-haters and the moral-haters in this country to have center stage for so long that they've slipped the whole moral platform of America off the stage," said Sen. D. Chris Buttars, R-Salt Lake, the bill's sponsor. "We've gone too far. It's time to start drawing the line and start bringing it back."

The bill requires elementary school students to recite the pledge every day and secondary school students to recite the pledge at least once a week.

Students will also learn the history of the flag and how to display the flag appropriately.

Each school must post a notice in a visible location informing students of their right to not say the pledge. Students who do not want to recite the pledge must have a note from their legal guardian.

Buttars said he couldn't believe anyone would not want American children to know and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Despite pleas from Mike Rivers, the Utah state director of American Atheists, Buttars refused to try to remove the phrase "under God" from the pledge.

Rivers said he wasn't surprised the bill passed the Utah House of Representatives.

"We knew it would pass," Rivers said. "They were prepared for us. They used an emotional plea. Nobody had a logical appeal."

He said the American Atheists in Utah will appeal to Gov. Leavitt to not sign the bill.

Rivers said if this legislation is signed into law it will force some children further away from religion and patriotism.

Adults should help children with their frustrations not force them to recite words they don't believe in, he said.

"A lot of kids will keep quiet and not say anything," Rivers said. "More than likely Governor Leavitt will sign it, but we will use this to raise people's awareness of a religious intolerance here. They are just widening the perceived religious divide."

Dani Eyer, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Utah, said the ACLU has no plans to seek an appeal.

"The last I saw the bill, it had the exception for students opting out of the pledge," Eyer said. "They can sit silently or leave the room, and that is consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling."

Eyer said the ACLU is against coercive speech because it is a violation of free expression.

Though Eyer said the pledge requirement is coercive, with the option for students to opt out of reciting the pledge, she said, the bill would be constitutional if it becomes a law.



Copyright Brigham Young University 12 Feb 2003