At Yulee High School in Florida, a student who reads the morning announcements every morning ends every announcement with the phrase, “God Bless America,” even though it is not part of the script. Due to this action, a national Atheist group has threatened to sue the school.

According to a report from USA Today, the statements made by the student are a constitutional violation and they are to be stopped right away and that is not an appropriate message to be spoken over the intercom to the entire school. In this case, it is the school’s atheist population that is being affected.

Not saying that there is or isn’t a God, but there is a legal precedent that gives not only the students, but all citizens of the United States the right to practice whatever religion they think is best for them. However, this is just a high school student making an announcement and probably didn’t even realize what he was doing.

In a report from USA Today, school officials have said that the student who made the announcement made the statement on his own accord and it doesn’t reflect the beliefs of the school as a whole. As a result, the student has just been instructed to stick to the script and to not deviate away from it for any reason.

Occurrences such as these occur all the time throughout the United States and not only in high schools. Even on college campuses in areas where students are given the right to freely express their opinions, there can often be found an Atheist and Agnostic Society group that is talking about its beliefs. More locally on Iowa State’s campus, either in the Memorial Union or outside Parks Library you can see either Atheist or Christian groups that are just trying to spread their beliefs to the student body.

In regards to the phrase, “God Bless America,” USA Today reported that the student meant no harm in what he said. It can’t be a surprise that something like this has occurred since God is present in not only the “Pledge of Allegiance,” but also in songs about America. In the pledge of allegiance, there is a line, “one nation under God,” and “God Bless America” is a song that is taught to a lot of students in school.

While the student made no harm in this action, the school is going to do its best to keep this from happening again so they don’t get sued. Just sticking to the script is going to be the best course of action to keep from offending groups of either Atheists or Christians.