Where, exactly, was so-called coercion?

I am responding to the people who have written in over the past week to denounce the Buffalo Grove High School atheist girl, and the decision to not have "God Bless America" on the homecoming list.

One letter I read stated that atheists are "coercing" communities to conform to their beliefs, and that "When he/she takes action that negatively affects others for their own personal interests, then we as a society must stand up..."

I'm going to assume that none of these people read the letter from the Buffalo Grove administrator who stated that when the council was deciding if the song should be on the list, the girl simply stated that homecoming should be secular, and the matter was (in the administrator's words) "dropped."

This doesn't seem like coercion to me. Nor does it seem like she was "negatively affecting" anyone for her own personal interests. I haven't read any angry letters from any students complaining that the song wasn't on the list, just angry readers whom the decision doesn't even affect.

This country is made up of diverse religions; that includes people with no affiliation to any god. There is a reason for separation of church and state.

Jonathan Buchholz

Palatine