Some Boulder High School students protested Thursday over having to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of each school day.

More than 50 students took part in the morning protest in the school courtyard.

The students are upset that the pledge includes the words "under God."

An alternate pledge written by senior Emma Martens was read to the crowd of students in the courtyard.

Her pledge says, "I pledge allegiance to the flag and my constitutional rights with which it comes. And to the diversity, in which our nation stands, one nation, part of one planet, with liberty, freedom, choice and justice for all."

Martens is president of the Student Worker activist club at the school.

Protesters said the Pledge of Allegiance violates the separation of church and state.

The courtyard protest was held at 8:30 a.m., the same time the Pledge of Allegiance was read over the school's loudspeakers.

A state law passed in 2004 requires schools to offer the opportunity to recite the pledge each day but does not require students to participate.

The protesting students, members of the Student Worker Club, want administrators to hold the pledge reading in the auditorium during each of the school's two lunch periods. Otherwise, they plan to walk out each Thursday when the pledge is read and recite their version, which omits the reference to God and adds allegiance to constitutional rights, diversity and freedom, among other things.

"Boulder High has a highly diverse population, not all of whom believe in God, or one God," said Emma Martens, a senior and president of the Student Worker Club, which has about a dozen members.

"We didn't think it was fair for the whole school to have to listen to it. It's almost religious oppression," she said.

Assistant Principal Lynn Donnelly said it was unlikely the recitation of the pledge would be moved.