The Five Freedoms Project

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You Be The Judge

Test your knowledge of the Five Freedoms and see how you match up to the courts...and fellow citizens.

July 2009

The Pledge of Allegiance

In 1935, a fifth-grade student in Minersville, Pennsylvania refused to participate in his school’s morning ritual of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. “I do not salute the flag,” he later explained, “because I have promised to do the will of God.” His school suspended him for his actions, prompting his father to file suit and claim the school had deprived his son of his right to freedom of religion and speech under the First Amendment.

May school officials require students to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance?

Vote Now!

  • A. YES
    Students to not have the right to publicly disobey school officials and policies. Such power for adults is essential to the preservation of order, decorum, and good government in public schools.
    Vote A
  • B. YES
    The Minersville school board is correct in drafting a policy that states the Pledge of Allegiance helps fulfill its mission to instill in its students a “love of country.” The need of the school to fulfill this duty outweighs any individual student need to opt out.
    Vote B
  • C. NO
    The First Amendment exists to protect each individual’s right to say whatever he or she wants to say. The courts have a responsibility to intervene any time that basic right is violated in the name of power or authority.
    Vote C