Under god removed from pledge of allegiance in schools

A North Dakota school board voted to stop saying the Pledge of Allegiance before meetings because the phrase 'under God' doesn't include all faiths.

The Fargo School Board voted 7-2 to drop the Pledge on Tuesday because its members felt it wasn't inclusive.

During the spring, the board had originally voted to keep the Pledge, but after recent elections - which saw four new board members joining the team - Vice President Seth Holden sought to rescind the previous action, board member Robin Nelson told DailyMail.com on Thursday.

Nelson, who voted to keep the Pledge, told DailyMail.com that Holden argued that keeping the pledge violated their 'equity inclusion' clause and didn't represent all religions and those who are atheist or agnostic.

The Fargo School Board voted 7-2 to eliminate the Pledge of Allegiance from their meetings on Tuesday (pictured front to back: (front row) Nikkie Gullickson, Robin Nelson, Katie Christensen, Greg Clark, Pres. Tracie Newman, (back row) Nyamal Dei, Jim Johnson, VP Seth Holden, and Melissa Burkland)

Holden said the Pledge violated their 'equity inclusion' clause and did not represent all faiths, board member Robin Nelson, who voted to keep the Pledge, told DailyMail.com on Thursday. He reportedly said the word 'God' is 'capitalized,' meaning it only represents 'Judeo-Christian' religions

Holden said, according to Inforum, that the word 'God' is 'capitalized' in the Pledge, meaning it only referred to the 'Judeo-Christian God, and therefore, it does not include any other faith such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, all of which are practiced by our staff and students.'

Holden also reportedly said that he is not personally against the Pledge, but does not find that it is committed to the religious upbringings of all staff and students.

However, Nelson and fellow board member Nikkie Gullickson disagreed and voted to keep the Pledge.

'I did not want that right removed from me,' Nelson told DailyMail.com on why she personally voted no. 'Our job is to focus on the education of the children.'

Vice President Seth Holden was the one to bring the Pledge debacle back after it was ruled in the spring to keep reciting it. Although he has nothing personally against the Pledge, he reportedly said it does not represent all students and staff's faiths, including those who are atheist and agonistic

Nelson (left) and Nikkie Gullickson (right) voted to keep the Pledge, with Nelson telling DailyMail.com that she did not 'want that right removed from me.' She also said the Pledge discussion was 'distracting' from 'other board issues,' such as student mental health and teacher recruitment

She also suggested that revisiting the Pledge debacle was a 'distraction from other board issues,' such as student mental health and teacher recruitment.

Although it is unknown the exact religion breakdowns seen through Fargo School District, Nelson told DailyMail.com that it was largely Christian faiths, which many in the local areas being Lutherans or Catholics.

Lutherans make up around 30 percent of North Dakota's population and Catholic are just shy of 25 percent, as of 2010.

Former board member David Paulson, who was not reelected and had originally brought up the Pledge debacle in the spring, said his former colleagues are 'misinterpreting' the Pledge and focusing on religion, rather than freedom.

'The Pledge isn’t a show of our patriotism, it’s an affirmation of our commitment and our loyalty to the greater cause, and that greater cause is freedom,' he said, according to Inforum.

The board originally voted to keep the Pledge in the spring, but after recently election - which saw four new members join - Vice President Seth Holden proposed to rescind the previous action, according to an internal memo, obtained by DailyMail.com

Paulson had attended the recent board meeting to plead his case as to why the board should continue to say the Pledge, citing that many other school boards do.

Nelson told DailyMail.com that Fargo is the only school district to not say the Pledge in the local area.

School Board President Tracie Newman said she doesn't have strong feelings toward saying the Pledge or not, but suggested, they say, a 'shared statement of purpose' ahead of the meetings instead, according to Inforum.

'I'm just not sure that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance is a useful way to begin every one of our board meetings,' she said. 'I would much prefer that we open our meetings with a shared statement of purpose that would bring us all together to do the work of the board.'

Social media users are publishing posts claiming that the U.S. Democrat National Convention (DNC), which took place August 17 to 20, omitted the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. This is partly false. Although two caucuses did leave out “under God”, the phrase was used in the Pledge of Allegiance on every night in the main programme of the DNC.

Reuters Fact Check. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt

One post on Facebook, shared over 1,000 times, reads, “The DNC omitted, One Nation Under God. From the pledge of allegiance. It was thought to be offensive and may trigger some people” (here) and others say, “The fact that the DNC omitted “under God” from the pledge of allegiance on a national platform should worry every believer!” ( here , here )

The current Pledge of Allegiance is as follows: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

The Pledge of Allegiance has been adapted over the years and the phrase “under God” was added on Flag Day, June 14, 1954 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower ( here , here ).

Several legal challenges have been mounted over the use of “under God” in the Pledge (here). Most notably, in 2004 atheist Michael Newdow brought an ultimately unsuccessful case to the Supreme Court saying California school’s pledge requirement violated his daughter’s rights under the First Amendment’s Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses (here).

At this year’s DNC, several caucuses took place alongside the main convention (here).

At the LGBTQ Caucus Meeting on Tuesday 18, Dr Marisa Richmond, left out “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance, as seen at the 01:48 minute mark in video here . At the Muslim Delegates and Allies Assembly on the same day, AJ Durrani, DNC Committeeman & Co-Chair Interfaith Council, also omitted “under God”, see the 01:10:47 minute mark in livestream here .

These are the only two caucus meetings’ livestreams (here) that Reuters found to have omitted the words “under God” from the Pledge. The caucus livestreams were not part of the prime-time convention broadcast.

In all four nights of the convention’s main programme the words “under God” were included in the Pledge of Allegiance. On the first night, the Pledge was said by Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s grandchildren (here), on the second and third nights, by a diverse group of Americans ( here , here ) and on the fourth night, by Cedric Richmond Jr, the son of Rep. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana (here).

Biden is a Roman Catholic who for years has written and spoken publicly about his faith (here). Recently, Biden has leaned into his religious commitments, emphasizing his faith during the presidential election and the DNC (here).

VERDICT

Partly false. Videos of the DNC show that two caucuses did omit “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance but the words were included on all four nights of the main programme.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts (here).

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