David Tucker: Student shouldn’t have to say, ‘Under God’
Re “Student punished for altering words to Pledge “ (Page A-3, Nov. 12): As a graduate of the Tracy school system, I was appalled and disgusted to learn that a student at Merrill West High School in Tracy was punished for omitting “under God” from the pledge of allegiance. I can understand this happening in Mississippi or Alabama or Bakersfield, but Tracy? “Under god” is an unconstitutional artifact of the McCarthy era. The student should have instead received an A+ for his understanding of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof....”
David Tucker, Riverbank
This story was originally published November 13, 2014 at 10:53 AM with the headline "David Tucker: Student shouldn’t have to say, ‘Under God’."