Anyways, back to the history. Jehovah's Witnesses are apolitical and consider all governments antithetical to God. They don't vote, get involved in politics, or pledge allegience to the flag. During World War II...well, you read it...
Minnersville School District v. Gobitis, from about.com
This issue centers on whether or not the government can force a child to salute the American flag. It is bizarre to think that the question is not settled and that lawmakers even today think that they can still attempt to do this, but it appears that the lessons of the two Supreme Court cases involved have not yet been learned. Mandatory flag pledges in public schools were a product of war-inspired America, with the first appearing in several states during the Spanish-American war. Many more joined during World War I, with the recently formed ACLU tracking only a few dissents. It wasn't until World War II was drawing close that the practice was challenged directly in a way that rose through the court system. In Minnersville School District v. Gobitis, two Jehovah's Witness school children, 10 and 12 years old, were suspended from school because they refused to salute the American flag during mandatory morning exercises. According to their beliefs, the Bible forbids having any false idols before God; and since all human governments are ultimately instituted by Satan, pledging to them would be a sin. In a preview of what was to come, the children suffered horrible teasing, taunting, and attacks from the other kids. A local Catholic church started a boycott of the family store and business dropped off. Because of their eventual expulsion, their father had to pay for them to enroll in a private school, resulting in even more economic hardship. What these bare facts fail to adequately describe is just how rancorous the situation really was. Gobitis was only recently a convert to Jehovah's Witnesses. The national leadership had recently decided to make an issue of the forced pledges and asked people to stand up for their rights. Jehovah's Witnesses who challenged the practice were accused of working with or being duped by German sympathizers - which is ironic, because many Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany were persecuted for refusing to pledge allegiance to Hitler. (blogger's note: 10,000 German Witnesses were sent to concentration camps as well.) It is also ironic because, at the time, many flag pledges were done not with the right hand over the heart as they are today, but instead with an outstretched right hand which has now become associated with the "Sieg Heil" salute of the Nazis. This was a mostly Catholic area and Jehovah's Witnesses were not looked kindly upon. Tensions were already high before this case arose and many viewed this as one way to get back at the troublesome Witnesses. In the initial court proceedings, school superintendent Roudabush displayed characteristic contempt for the beliefs of the children, stating that he felt they had been "indoctrinated" and that the existence of even a few dissenters would be "demoralizing," leading to widespread disregard for the flag and American values. Despite two stinging lower-court losses, the school chose to take its case to the Supreme Court, making essentially the same arguments which had failed before. In what is perhaps one of the Courts most embarrassing decisions, Justice Frankfurter wrote the 8-1 majority decision finding that the school district's interest in creating national unity was enough to allow them to require students to salute the flag. According to Frankfurter, the nation needed loyalty and the unity of all the people. Since saluting the flag was a primary means of achieving this legitimate goal, an issue of national importance was at stake. Although many Court opinions have provoked strong reactions, none have provoked such a wave of violence across the entire country. It is this which should, without question, demonstrate not only why the government should not get involved in either supporting or hindering religion, but why the government should not disparage any minority. By doing so, official sanction was given for people to vent anti-Witness feelings. Hundreds of attacks were reported to the Justice Department in the two following years. Among the worst were the burning of a Kingdom Hall in Maine, police assisting a mob in Maryland in dispersing a Bible meeting, and nearly an entire town in Illinois attacking a group of Witnesses, which required calling in state police to protect them. In West Virginia, a chief of police and deputy sheriff forced a group of Jehovah's Witnesses to drink large quantities of castor oil, tied them up with police department rope, and paraded them through town. In Nebraska, a Witness was kidnapped, beaten, and castrated. All of these acts - and many more like them - were traced directly back to the Gobitis ruling. Justice Harlan Stone wrote a strongly-worded dissent to that ruling which became a primary basis of the reversal of this decision in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette three years later. This time, Justice Jackson wrote the majority opinion, finding that the school district violated the rights of students by forcing them to salute the American flag. Unlike the Court Decision in Gobitis, this Court did not declare that allowing an individual's rights to be supported over government authority is a sign of a weak government, and compulsion was not found to be legitimate means for creating national unity.
It is a crime that "patriotic" Americans had to assault these people and burn their buildings in the "land of the free". Then again, white America doesn't really have a nice streak in the first place, and Jehovah's Witnesses are in a long line of persecuted Americans in their own country.
What does make it the land of the free, is that the Supreme Court got it right. Which is ironic considering the extreme apolitical nature of the religion. It is just a shame that the Supreme Court is so reactionary, and there are always victims before justice can prevail. [However, even when justice prevails, people can still be assholes.]
If someone doesn't want to perform the ritualistic chants of the Babylon-worshipping classroom ceremonies, that is their right. If someone wants to burn a piece of red, white, and blue fabric that was made in China...again, their right.
This is what happens to flag-burners in these parts!
Mola Ram is a prick.
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