Atheism and freedom of speech

I am in a town where religion is a big deal -- church attendance is a big part of socializing around here. And many of the cars sport bumper stickers that positively gloat at how the unsaved are going to hell.That said, I have experienced no problems being an atheist. Many of the people I work with know I'm an atheist, but no one seems to care much -- of course, I teach at the local college, so maybe that isn't surprising.A few months ago, I was talking with my neighbor. I think she was going to invite me to church. Anyway, when she asked me whether I went to church, I said, "no," and she asked whether I believed in god, and I said, "no." The poor lady. She was rather shocked, and had a hard time believing that I was an atheist and accepted evolution and all that. I was trying not to laugh -- she was so earnest, but so nice. I haven't noticed that it has caused any problems between us, though -- we still chat when we see each other, and she is very, very nice. Even brings me things like banana bread every once in a while.Anyway, she must have told the pastor of her church about me, because he introduced himself at the coffee shop in town where we both hang out in the mornings. But even though we have discussed some fairly deep things about life in general, religion never comes up in our conversations. I'm not sure whether my neighbor's church is more "liberal" than she is, or whether the pastor is just being a gentleman about it.Anyway, such has been my experience.

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"These monkeys are at once the ugliest and the most beautiful creatures on the planet./ And the monkeys don't want to be monkeys; they want to be something else./ But they're not."
-- Ernie Cline

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Removing prayer from the schools - if that's what you mean - was done to remove partitions between those who believe "the right thing" and those who don't.

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Actually, prayer was never removed from schools in the US. What was removed was mandatory recitement and official endorsement.It is a matter of religious freedom here in the US that prayer/Bible/Christian meetings can be held on school grounds on the students' own time, as with any other extracurricular activity.Added by edit:On a related note, sometimes schools have been over-zealous in their pursuit of seperation of church and state. Here is an article where the ACLU defended a grade school's student to sing a religious based song in a voluntary school event.Edited by Chiroptera, : No reason given.

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"These monkeys are at once the ugliest and the most beautiful creatures on the planet./ And the monkeys don't want to be monkeys; they want to be something else./ But they're not."
-- Ernie Cline

To answer your question:Unless the Supreme Court revisits the issue, it is any student's right to remain seated and not recite the pledge with the rest of the class. However, the state may require the teacher to lead the class in reciting the pledge.Added by edit:In recognition that children don't know what they are doing (except when they commit a capital crime), I believe that some states might require written notification from a parent to allow a student to refrain from the recitation.Edited by Chiroptera, : No reason given.

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"These monkeys are at once the ugliest and the most beautiful creatures on the planet./ And the monkeys don't want to be monkeys; they want to be something else./ But they're not."
-- Ernie Cline