Flag salute.

I'm taking this First Amendment class right now, mostly because I'm interested. We were assigned a case: West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943). Apparently West Virginia decided in 1942 to require students to salute the American flag every morning. And this is "require" in the "no exceptions" sense. Including no exceptions for the Jehovah's Witnesses enrolled in West Virginia public schools. Why would they require an exception? Apparently Witnesses consider the flag to be a graven image and the salute thereof worship. Hence, the required conduct made God angry. Or something.

So what was the punishment for such behavior? Some of the students were transferred to schools for the criminal delinquent. Others were expelled from school and, due to a quirk in West Virginia laws, were considered "unlawfully absent." Which meant the state could--and did--criminally prosecute the parents of the insubordinate student, sending them to jail and fining them. And, it should be noted, there were no other bad acts on the part of the student, rendering the failure to salute a "last straw" or the like.

Which just goes to show that some Americans are fucked in the head.