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Aug 13th, 2008 Google Bookmarks Technorati StumbleUpon Digg! Reddit Delicious Facebook
Posted by Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 10:46pm

"No" To Loyalty Oaths in California

Californians are familiar with the story of Wendy Gonaver, a lecturer at California State University at Fullerton who was fired after she refused to take the state's "loyalty oath," a holdover law from the 1950s intended to weed Communists from the state's payroll. The oath currently excludes some religious folk, such as Quakers and Jehovah's Witnesses, whose faiths forbid them from swearing such oaths.

The ACLU of Southern California blogged in DailyKos today about a new bill before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: S.B. 1322, the "Loyalty Oath Reform Bill" (PDF). If you're a Californian, urge the governor to sign S.B. 1322, and stand up for the religious freedom of all Californians.

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5 Responses to ""No" To Loyalty Oaths in California"

  1. ex ACLU member Says:

    All government employees including members of congress and the president take an oath to protect and defend the CONSTITUTION.
    The real problem comes when some of them don't take that oath seriously!
    That's why we have the second amendment.
    To guarantee that the people will always be able to protect their constitutional rights no matter what.

  2. sue hayes Says:

    the aclu is just like the naacp...a lot of jerks that have nothing to do but cause trouble where they don' belong

  3. Mike Says:

    I'm sure you had a good idea not to take a loyalty oath, but then I'm sure you can't be trusted either. If a simple little set of words written on a piece of paper mean that much to you then, I can honestly say I wouldn't give you the time of day if you asked for it.

  4. daryl Says:

    Loyalty oaths in general should be banished. I should not be forced in any way to support a government that promotes nothing but conformity to Christian values and promotes denial of freedom of beliefs and expression of political views. I do not support this sort of government, one that obviously violates their own documents. I should not be forced to sign any loyalty oaths.

  5. dj Says:

    Loyalty oaths are wrong. Since such oaths are against some peoples' beliefs or marals, forcing people to perjure themselves in order to accept a job is wrong.The problem with people, like some of the above, is that to them it is 'just words', whereas to others, like myself, our word is important. A state loyalty oath, in particular, is rather silly in a federal system. By the way, Ms. Hayes, if you have an extra few million sitting around, I'd be happy to leave.

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