Tired of what he viewed as an “offensive” practice, Highlands resident Matthew Barry followed a recent request at the Issaquah School District to drop the Pledge of Allegiance with the same request to Issaquah City Council on Jan. 4.

Barry, who identified himself as an atheist, said the pledge was also irrelevant to the public’s business and went against the city’s own anti-discrimination resolutions. In particular, Barry said he objected to the words “under God” in the pledge and said the public body should not recognize and condone such a proclamation before every meeting.

“I don’t think anyone would conclude that the City is “doing its best” to treat atheists with dignity and respect by asking them to stand and contradict their personally held beliefs,” he said. “On the contrary, it is blatantly disrespectful and therefore a violation of your own anti-discrimination resolution.”

Both the city council and the school district open their regular meetings by inviting all attending to join them in reciting the pledge.

Barry also observed that the city councils of Seattle, Kirkland, Redmond and Issaquah’s own Committee of the Whole do not open their meetings with the tradition.

The Pledge of Allegiance, originally composed by Baptist minister Francis Bellamy in 1892, has been changed several times since then, the last change coming in 1954 when the words “under God” were included. A 2002 legal challenge to the current pledge in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals was upheld, but was later dismissed on a technicality.

Mayor Ava Frisinger said this was the first time she had heard anyone object to the practice in her 13 years as the city’s top public official.

“I don’t know where we’d go with this,” she said. “I do invite people to stand and join us. I don’t compel them to.”

Council member Eileen Barber disagreed with the notion the pledge should be dropped.

“We just took an oath to the (U.S.) Constitution,” she said. “Taking that pledge is an important reminder to me.”

Council member Joshua Schaer said he was sympathetic to Barry’s complaint of discrimination, citing his own Jewish background.

“I’m definitely sensitive to religious comments,” he said.

But he wasn’t sure anything could be done to change the wording of the actual pledge and said if the pledge was dropped entirely then others may feel offended.

“Maybe it’s a discussion we should have,” he said.

Barry also raised similar objections to the Issaquah School Board Dec. 9 and that they cease the practice of reciting the pledge.

In an April 23 letter to the Reporter, Barry raised similar objections to the alleged practice of Skyline High School football coaches leading players in a “pre-game ‘chapel’ so the students could ‘focus on the Lord’,” and post-game prayers in 2007 and prompted the ISD to take action.

“The (Issaquah School) District admitted that coach-led chapel services are inappropriate and assured us that athletic directors at all high schools have directed coaches to abide by school policy, which bans coach-led religious services of any kind,” he wrote.