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Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote in support of laws that ban flag-burning: \u201cThe flag is not simply another \u2018idea\u2019 or \u2018point of view\u2019 competing for recognition in the marketplace of ideas. Millions of millions of Americans regard it with an almost mystical reverence regardless of what sort of social, political, or philosophical belief they may have. I cannot agree that the First Amendment invalidates the Act of Congress, and the laws of 48 of the 50 states, which make criminal the public burning of the flag.\u201d <\/p>\n
One oddity, one glaring oversight. The oddity: Rehnquist did not describe America\u2019s diversity in religion, only in \u201csocial, political, and philosophical belief.\u201d How often do Americans divide over \u201cphilosophical beliefs\u201d? <\/p>\n
The glaring oversight: By Rehnquist\u2019s own argument, it would seem that the Establishment clause would prohibit protection to the flag. How does a ban on flag-burning not amount to an establishment of a \u201cmystical\u201d flag-cult? I suspect that the question would not occur to Rehnquist, since patriotism doesn\u2019t qualify as a religion \u2013 even if he cannot avoid religious language in describing it. Yet he seems to half-recognize that the US does in fact have an established religion, whose sacrament is the flag and whose creed is the Declaration of Independence. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote in support of laws that ban flag-burning: \u201cThe flag is not simply another \u2018idea\u2019 or \u2018point of view\u2019 competing for recognition in the marketplace of ideas. Millions of millions of Americans regard it with an almost mystical reverence regardless of what sort of social, political, or philosophical belief they may have. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-religion"],"yoast_head":"\n