Respect

Given Derek's comments about a Constitutional amendment to prohibit desecrating the American flag, I thought I'd put in my two cents' worth.

I consider myself a patriotic American. I think that burning, defacing, or otherwise debasing the flag is wrong. I think it's disrespectful, both to the men and women who died for our country, and to those of us who revere it as a symbol of a great (if occasionally flawed) nation. I think that defacing the flag is ungrateful, hypocritical, rude, and often downright vulgar. I think that people who burn flags are wasting their time, and that with a little effort and creativity, they could find something productive to do. It makes me angry to see people burning, mocking, or otherwise disrespecting the flag. To be quite honest, I wish that the flag enjoyed as much protection as pornography does.

But does that mean that there should be a Constitutional amendment to prevent these practices? No. The precedent set by such an amendment is too dangerous. If we start making exceptions to the Bill of Rights—even to protect something as worthy as the flag of our nation—I think that we open the door for future losses of freedom that we cannot now imagine.

Regardless of how much I/we may dislike it personally, the fact is that the Constitution guarantees (or should guarantee) us the right to be disrespectful, ungrateful, hypocritical, rude, vulgar, and all the rest. Even where the flag is concerned. And I'm not alone in this opinion. The United States Supreme Court has already made that clear on multiple occasions.

I don't like the practice of burning the flag, and I don't support those who do it. But I acknowledge their Constitutional right to do so. In high school, I learned the following quote attributed to Voltaire: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

It's in situations like this that this quote begins to mean something.

So I will continue to display my flag proudly, and I will continue to wear flag-logo clothing on special occasions. And I will continue to cringe when I see or read about someone burning a flag, or urinating on it, or flying it upside-down in protest of a political leader or policy they don't like. That is my conscience. Other people have their own consciences, and under the Constitution, they can exercise them as they see fit.

Without that, the flag loses some of its meaning.

--

While we're on the subject, I invite my reader(s) to take a look at an article by David Morris titled The Blasphemy of Flag Worship. I think he makes some good points, one of which is the following:

The contention that flag worship is blasphemy was a key element before the Supreme Court in 1940. In that case it upheld the right of a Pennsylvania school district to expel two students who refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The two teenagers were members of the Jehovah's Witness denomination. Their church believed that pledging allegiance to the flag violated the Biblical admonition (Exodus 20:4-5) against worshipping or bowing down to any graven image of God. The court decided that the need for national security and national unity allowed Congress to force individuals to violate the Ten Commandments.

In 1943, the Supreme Court reversed its 1940 decision. That reversal probably had less to do with religion than with the Court's realization that, at the height of a war against totalitarian regimes, a central feature of which was a slavish devotion to national symbols, compelling us to worship the flag was inapt.

I don't know that I agree with the author's assessment that the flag has become an object of worship, but as a Christian, I find it interesting to think about.