Roxanne Westover, a 17-year-old from Ohio, stopped standing for the Pledge of Allegiance after learning in her history class that she didn’t have to.
“I’m an atheist, and I believe the pledge isn’t something toward our nation,” she said. “It’s more like a religious oath, and I believe that if I stand I’m still participating in it.”
Several times, she was “written up and send to the principal’s office” for not following suit and pledging.
The ACLU contacted the school and did their thing. As a result, it looks like there will be no further punishment for Roxanne.
Westover said she encourages others with similar beliefs to stand up for them by sitting down.
“I do encourage students to not stand up and to stand up for what they believe in,” she said. “Even throughout the whole entire thing, I had a lot of people backing me up who felt the same way about it.”
I’m glad she has support — a lot of students don’t.
Roxanne added that her refusal to stand for the pledge had nothing to do with Will Phillips, but she supports what he did.
Let’s hope all these students are setting an example for the rest of their classmates.