Let's join them. The NBA pre-season is just getting started, and to my surprise, the NBA actually has a rule requiring all players to stand during the national anthem.
I dislike that rule. I'm with the late Molly Ivins, who said,
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag."
I didn't know the NBA had such a rule. I think it's a restriction of free expression which violates the 1st Amendment of the Constitution. I hope NBA players start taking a knee during the national anthem -- for all of the reasons for which NFL players are kneeling, but also to protest the league's violation of their 1st Amendment rights.
Another thing I'd like to see is singers who've been invited to sing the national anthem during sporting events taking a knee when the music starts (if there is backing music), and not singing.
There's no reason why fans can't kneel along with the players. For some reason, fans booing and complaining about the protest -- and burning team jerseys and spitting on players who kneel -- are getting most of the headlines about fan reaction, but the truth is that many fans have expressed support of the players' right to free expression, with many also expressing support of the protest. And some people have decided to watch football games for the first time in their lives! Where are all the headlines about them? Those who support the protest can express it even more clearly, if they happen to be at one of the games, by kneeling and being silent as well.
And sports journalists who respect everyone's 1st Amendment rights can give some air time to fans who aren't fascist yahoos.
And there's no reason why solidarity with the protesting athletes has to be confined to sporting events. Schoolchildren could kneel and be silent as the pledge is recited in their classrooms.
And Congresspeople and Senators could kneel and be silent when the pledge is recited on Capitol Hill.
And those who feel that the President of the United States should defend people's 1st Amendment rights, and not call for them to be fired for exercising them -- after all, he did take an oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" -- should add that to the long, long list of reasons why Trump should be removed from office as soon as possible, whether by impeachment and trial in Congress, or by implementing the 25th Amendment.
Showing posts with label national anthem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label national anthem. Show all posts
Monday, October 2, 2017
Saturday, September 30, 2017
The Church of the Brethren
I was born in 1961, and I grew up in a small, conservative town in rural Indiana. First thing in the morning in every classroom in our school, everyone would stand up and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
That is, almost everyone. At the time -- I'm an atheist now -- my family's religion, the Church of the Brethren, part of an offshot of Lutheranism known as Pietism, said that we weren't supposed to carry guns, not even if we were drafted into the military. The Bible says that Jesus told his followers to turn the other cheek. In the Church of the Brethren, we interpreted this as an instruction to be strictly pacifistic. And we weren't supposed to swear on a Bible, not even if we were witnesses in court.
And our denomination also said that we weren't supposed to sing the Star-Spangled Banner or recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Nor were we supposed to rise to our feet while others did so. So every day at school, first thing in the morning, everybody else in my classroom rose to their feet and recited the Pledge of Allegiance, while I stayed seated and said nothing. At sporting events, almost everyone sang the national anthem, but those who attended our church stayed seated and didn't sing. If we had to testify in court, we didn't swear to tell the truth, and we didn't touch the Bible. We simply promised to tell the truth.
The thing is, I don't remember anyone ever giving me a hard time about any of this. Sometimes people were curious and asked me why I did this or that differently, and we talked about. But I never got into an argument with anyone about: I expalined how we did things in our church, and that was fine with them. No one ever called me a son of a bitch over it. No one ever stood outside of our little white-painted church carrying picket signs. No one ever called us un-American. We weren't jailed for contempt of court because we behaved differently in court. In the earliest days of the US, people of our denomination sometimes got into trouble for being conscientious objectors to military service, but by the early 19th century, that got straightened out too: we had explained the reasons for our behavior to the United States, and the United States has accepted those reasons ever since, and instead of joining the military, young men from our church would work in military hospitals or do construction work in postwar areas which needed to be rebuilt.
People listened to the reasons for our behavior and accepted them. And conversely, we never accused others of being wicked or un-Christian, because they had different beliefs and did a few things differently than we did. Because when you get right down to cases, very few people are as bigoted, unreasonable or downright dense as our current President.
That is, almost everyone. At the time -- I'm an atheist now -- my family's religion, the Church of the Brethren, part of an offshot of Lutheranism known as Pietism, said that we weren't supposed to carry guns, not even if we were drafted into the military. The Bible says that Jesus told his followers to turn the other cheek. In the Church of the Brethren, we interpreted this as an instruction to be strictly pacifistic. And we weren't supposed to swear on a Bible, not even if we were witnesses in court.
And our denomination also said that we weren't supposed to sing the Star-Spangled Banner or recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Nor were we supposed to rise to our feet while others did so. So every day at school, first thing in the morning, everybody else in my classroom rose to their feet and recited the Pledge of Allegiance, while I stayed seated and said nothing. At sporting events, almost everyone sang the national anthem, but those who attended our church stayed seated and didn't sing. If we had to testify in court, we didn't swear to tell the truth, and we didn't touch the Bible. We simply promised to tell the truth.
The thing is, I don't remember anyone ever giving me a hard time about any of this. Sometimes people were curious and asked me why I did this or that differently, and we talked about. But I never got into an argument with anyone about: I expalined how we did things in our church, and that was fine with them. No one ever called me a son of a bitch over it. No one ever stood outside of our little white-painted church carrying picket signs. No one ever called us un-American. We weren't jailed for contempt of court because we behaved differently in court. In the earliest days of the US, people of our denomination sometimes got into trouble for being conscientious objectors to military service, but by the early 19th century, that got straightened out too: we had explained the reasons for our behavior to the United States, and the United States has accepted those reasons ever since, and instead of joining the military, young men from our church would work in military hospitals or do construction work in postwar areas which needed to be rebuilt.
People listened to the reasons for our behavior and accepted them. And conversely, we never accused others of being wicked or un-Christian, because they had different beliefs and did a few things differently than we did. Because when you get right down to cases, very few people are as bigoted, unreasonable or downright dense as our current President.
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