One month after the attack on Pearl Harbor, on January 9, 1942, the Board of Education in West Virginia adopts this resolution: "[As] a regular part of the program of activities in the public schools," all teachers and pupils shall be required to participate in the salute honoring the Nation represented by the Flag; provided, however, refusal to salute the Flag be regarded as an Act of insubordination, and shall be dealt with accordingly."
OBEY, OR ELSE
Failure to comply was insubordination and meant expulsion. Readmission was denied until the student complied. This expulsion automatically exposed the child and the parents to criminal prosecution; the expelled child was unlawfully absent and could be charged as a delinquent, and their parents or guardians could be fined as much as $50 and jailed up to thirty days.
ENTER THE CULT
This is where a cult enters the picture, one with which we disagree concerning the fundamentals of the faith. The Jehovah's Witnesses have as one of their tenets that they neither salute the flag nor recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The salute prescribed by the resolution was a stiff-armed salute by the outstretched right arm toward the flag. There is a picture from back in 1942, of students standing with raised right arms rigid, reciting the pledge.
The cult bases this erroneous belief on Exodus 20:4-5. They bring suit against the West Virginia resolution, one which goes all the way to the Supreme Court. Their lawyers argue that to obey the law, the authorities would be forcing them to violate their conscience and lie.
On June 14, 1943, Flag Day, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its ruling which included the following eloquent words: "If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confessor by word or act their faith therein."
WHAT WOULD THE FOUNDERS THINK?
James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, and Thomas Jefferson would have been pleased, although they would have disagreed with the basis on which the cult refused to salute and pledge. James Madison said it well in a letter to his friend and confidant, Thomas Jefferson: "I flatter myself [that we] have in this country extinguished forever the hope of making laws for the human mind."
But did Madison speak too soon? Forever is a long time.
In October 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown signs "The Reproductive FACT Act." The law forces pro-life clinics and medical clinics licensed by the state to tell women where to obtain abortions. Additionally, a document with this information was to be posted and/or distributed at the clinic. What we see in this law is what Madison, Jefferson, and the other framers of the Constitution feared: enacting law for the human mind. By this act, pro-life clinics are forced to advertise and promote a practice against their beliefs and the reason they founded the organization in the first place, i. e. it was the enactment and enforcement of a law for the human mind.
This reminds us of the Romans who forced the Christians to burn incense to the Emperor as one of the gods or face the consequences. Everyone, Christians included, had to agree, that the Emperor was a god because this tenet bound the Empire together. This was the making of a law for the human mind. Agree or face the music.
PUT DOWN YOUR GUN
How different is Christianity! It's spread doesn't come by force, but by persuasion: "Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade others . . ." Christ made it crystal clear that His kingdom would not advance by force when He commanded Peter, "Put up your sword" in the Garden of Gethsemane when the arresting party came for Him. Rather than fight, when Paul saw that he wasn't wanted in a city, he left. His motto was, "Some will, some won't, who's next?"
Madison congratulated himself and Jefferson for their extinguishing forever the hope of making laws for the human mind. But as it turns out, although they did so for a long, long time, when Madison wrote "forever," he chose the wrong word.
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