The flag, government, and freedom of conscience (the Barnette case, 1943)

Excerpts from Arnaldo Testi, Capture the Flag: The Stars and Stripes in American History, New York University Press, 2010, pp. 47-49 The rituals surrounding the Stars and Stripes are quite recent. The shaping of their features, so highly infused with civil religiosity, has elicited many a conflict that has involved the citizens’ civic and religious beliefs, the role of religion in public life, and the country’s most sacred institutions. The […]