I don’t agree that the Pledge of Allegiance violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment because you are not praying to anything or anyone. I would agree that the nondenominational prayer does violate this clause. The reason being is that schools are not allowed to require that there is to be a prayer because it comes down to the separation of church and state. Church is where you can go and pray, as well as practice your religion. The state, however, cannot mandate that there be prayer in school because it is not something that they can do because of the First
What The Pledge of Allegiance Means to Me The Pledge of Allegiance means a lot to me. One thing the Pledge means to me is that we are all one nation. The words “One nation, under God, indivisible, With liberty and justice for all. Another thing the Pledge means to me is that we are all equal.
In 1943, a precedent court case Brown v. Board of Education allowed students to not salute the flag. Many people believe that if the argument is that desecration of the flag is ruining a national symbol, not saluting the flag is of the same disrespect. Precedent court cases have all stayed on the same line of judgement to say that it is constitutional for desecration of the flag to fall under symbolic
The law states that is freedom of speech to burn our American Flag, but how is stomping and burning the symbol of this nation where our freedom of speech should be. Most do it out of anger toward our country, but why do they have to take such drastic measures to show their anger. Wattad stated” grant the flag special respect.” ( 1, 2008) It's not saying take away freedom of speech just grant something that represents what our soldiers are fighting for special respect.
The Pledge of Allegiance has been a national tradition to recite in America since it was first invented in 1892. In just a few small sentences, Americans have recited this short poem in baseball games, schools, and even small or large conferences. However, there is one controversy that has been fought that is based on the national poem. The original pledge was shorter than what most American's know today. The original pledge did not have the part “Under God” in its passages and has become a controversial topic for a long time. The original had only said “one Nation indivisible” while today's says “One nation, under God, indivisible.” The argumentative topic is that these two short words should not be required to say in the Pledge of Allegiance and that the short passage should go back to being the original.
The First Amendment, Freedom of Speech could probably be considered the most powerful amendments of the Constitution. If we didn’t have this right, many of our ideas and beliefs would not be real today. All American citizens have the right to talk about what’s on their minds and say what they believe in. As Derek Bok mentions in his essay and unfortunately for people who disagree, With the Supreme Court’s rulings, the demonstration of these flags clearly falls within the protection of the free-speech clause of the First Amendment and that they can in no way be banned merely because they may seem offensive or may someone else’s feelings. “These rulings apply to all agencies of government, including public universities”.
It is clear to see that flag burning causes tension, good tension as MLK would call it, that causes attention to be drawn to a topic and forces people to acknowledge the problem. Destroying the American flag is a powerful method of protest that says “This flag is useless because America is not what it is supposed to stand
All though burning of the flag is protected by the first amendment, meaning anyone has the right to burn the flag. In "Texas v. Johnson", people come to the acceptance that a person has the right to burn the flag. "We decline, therefore, to create for the flag an exception to the joust of principles protected by the first amendment" (Page 15 Lines 1 – 2). "We are fortified in today's conclusion by our conviction that forbidding criminal punishment for conduct such as Johnson's...".
Starting in kindergarten, we have allocated thirty seconds of every morning to reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. I remember hearing the announcement to do the Pledge, and sighing because I had to stand and perform this seemingly pointless task. As a little kid, I didn’t know what the Pledge of Allegiance really meant or why we had to do it. All I knew is that we would be performing the monotonous, fancy sounding, thirty-one worded stanza daily. While it was against the law for teachers to force us to say the Pledge, it was expected. This “patriotism” was assumed of us at a young age, and it was also given with the mindset that we were the best country. Dictionary.com says that the Pledge of Allegiance is a “patriotic vow”, a promise to support and defend their country. Does this mean that saying the pledge suddenly makes me a patriot? Is patriotism
In conclusion, although flag burning may be disrespectful this “symbolic speech” is allowed by the First Amendment and we should keep it this way instead of giving up a
The burning of the American flag should not be protected by the First Amendment. Gregory Lee Johnson was convicted of burning the flag in violation of the Texas Law. After a march, he burned the flag in protest during the 1984 Republican National Convention. No one was hurt during this demonstration.
As I recited the pledge of allegiance every day in school, I never really took into consideration what the United States stands for to me. I never acknowledged how much the flag means to our country. The United States flag is a symbol of freedom to all who live here. It shows how we are free to do what we please.
In the text “Texas vs Johnson”, on page 82. Justice Brennan says, the way to preserve the flag’s special role is not to punish those who feel differently about [nationhood and national unity]. It is to persuade them that they are wrong. Military people don’t feel strongly about people burn are nations flag because they where the ones you protected our flag. Some people do burn flags but they do it to retire the flag.
This is arguably the most important amendment to liberty, and a person’s right to free will. The first amendment states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
It is an expressed opinion that is protected by the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution. Johnson had full rights to burn the flag and say whatever he wanted about it or the government and it was his freedom to do so. Even though it is morally wrong and usually an unacceptable behavior, I believe that the Court did the right thing. They had to put aside personal beliefs and values and interpret the Constitution the way it was written even if it allows people to be a disgrace to the country itself.