Apparently, an awful lot of Americans slept through high school civics. If that applies to you, try to keep up. This is the United States of America. We have some papers which are sort of important, called the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution. These papers spell out in great detail what the government is allowed to do and what individuals are allowed to do. For instance, an individual (that's one person) can display any flag of his or her choice on his or her own property, up to and including having it tattooed on his or her forehead. In contrast, our government (that's all the people we pay a ridiculous amount of money to run the country on behalf of all us individuals) must preserve justice and freedom from oppression for everyone, equally. There is one flag that (theoretically, at least) represents everyone equally. Therefore, it is the flag we should observe on the buildings that house the government that has a duty to preserve equal rights for everyone, equally. A different flag--one that represents slavery, oppression, and legalized terrorism to anyone not white--maybe not that one.
For another example, an individual may hold any belief he or she finds reasonable. An individual may express said belief in any way which does not infringe upon the rights of any other individual. The government, however, may not favor certain systems of belief by denying the rights of some individuals, but not others in matters like, let's say marriage.
Finally, the government itself must not infringe upon the rights of any individual. An individual is entitled to freedom of religion, which means that neither the government, nor its leader may tell individuals what they may believe or how to express that belief. Or when it's time to change that belief. Sorry, Mr. President.
In addition to freedom OF religion, individuals are entitled to freedom FROM religion. This is why we don't chop off the heads of "infidels" here or burn people at the stake for witchcraft. Anymore, that is.
Sorry, Christians. We can't really have it both ways. If we expect to be protected, everyone else gets the same.
Any questions? I didn't think so. I'm glad we cleared that up. Good talk!
