Regarding the Pledge

To the editors of the Free Lance-Star:

IF A SPOTSYLVANIA public school student were being com- pelled by his teacher, as part of a class exercise, to read aloud from a work of modern fiction that contained curse words, and such utterances violated the student’s reli- gious code regarding blasphemy, what would Del. Mark Cole say? It’s a good bet, based on Mr. Cole’s own beliefs and legislative history, that he would strongly defend the child’s right to opt out of the readings.

Remind the author of this sophmoric rant that the Pledge of Allegiance is (1) nowhere comparable to a “work of modern fiction containing curse words,” (2) that individuals have been respectfully refusing to say the Pledge for decades, and (3) that no one has the right to reject the very principles of a free society – namely an allegiance to one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.

America is an idea, not an institution. If you cannot pledge allegiance to the ideas upon which a free society is based upon, you are simply not a thinking creature.