Pledging Allegiance, Religious Liberty & the Court | Mark Rienzi | Constitutional Conversations

0:00 as you reflect back on the history of religious liberty here in America do either of you have kind of a favorite story of a high or a low point that really encapsulates what we’re talking about here I do I thought you might but Jehovah’s Witnesses not saying the Pledge of Allegiance during World War two fascinating story of cases if

0:22 there’s two Supreme Court cases I could get anyone to read it’s go bite us and Barnett so go bite us is a case in 1940 when a school district in Pennsylvania says to the Jehovah’s Witness children you must pledge allegiance to the flag and back then the flag salute was not this it was it was like Heil Hitler I think this was Heil Hitler and this was the American flag salute at the time and the school

0:44 district said to the Jehovah’s Witnesses you must salute the flag and the Jehovah’s Witnesses at the time had and I think they still do have this religious belief they thought that that was worshiping a false image they thought that they shouldn’t do that that God would be offended if they worshiped the flag so you have these kids in school who say sorry I can’t do your pledge ceremony and you have teachers who were actually taking the ten year

1:05 old girl and like forcing her arm up to hold her arm up for the salute and the Supreme Court interpreting the First Amendment of the United States Constitution said that’s perfectly fine school district is allowed to force the kid to do it school district is allowed to kick them out if they won’t and the reason they said that is the court said well nationalism is really important and who are we as judges to figure out

1:27 what’s the right way to make kids nationalistic that’s nineteen forty three years later thank God the Supreme Court got the answer right in a case called Barnett in Barnett the court said well wait a second the point of the First Amendment is to say that there are certain things that are beyond the reach of the majority they’re beyond the reach of the people who run your school and the ability to force you to say or

1:49 believe something is something that our Constitution doesn’t allow after gobitis there was a lot of attack there were a lot of attacks on jehovah’s witnesses some were tarred and feathered in the streets some had their buildings burned down to Kingdom Hall in Maine that was burned down in the 1940 in the nineteenth not that long ago because the Supreme Court said it’s okay to punish the Jehovah’s Witnesses and treat them

2:10 differently just three years later the court got it right in a case that think really sets our First Amendment on a good path that we’ve been on ever since which is the First Amendment exists to protect people who have different beliefs and to say that the government cannot punish them for trying to live out those beliefs