Student Braves Controversy, Refuses to Recite Pledge

Will Phillips doesn't believe that describes America for its gay and lesbian citizens. He's a 10-year-old at West Fork Elementary School in Arkansas, about three hours east of Oklahoma City. Given his beliefs, he refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, specifically because that one phrase, "liberty and justice for all," he says, does not truly apply to all...

That got him sent to the principal's office. The principal made him look up information about the flag and what it represents. Meanwhile, there was the inevitable call to his mother. At first, mom Laura Phillips told the Times, the principal talked about Will telling a substitute to jump off a bridge. When pressed, the principal admitted the whole incident was sparked by the boy exercising his constitutional right not to recite the Pledge of Allegiance...

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His mother stood by him, which is probably to be expected for her raising a brave boy who stands up for the rights of others, even though it gets him in trouble. The flag is just cloth. Why should we "pledge" our allegiance to it? Or even to our country, for that matter. No, I don't hate America or kittens or anything. You can be a good citizen without pledging yourself to a country or to a flag piece of cloth. Americans think America is "all that and a bag of chips". Well get over it, you're not all that!

I would be proud of my son any of my kids not saying the pledge of allegiance, and would stand behind him as she did. Today I was at a basketball game, and of course the traditional National Anthem was sung (as it is at most sporting events). You could see that the majority of people had their hands over their hearts, but many of them us did not.

Why do people who are so "America rules!" think people who aren't are not good people or that we hate America? Free speech is not just for what you believe, folks.