Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that bowing down to a flag or saluting it, often in conjunction with an anthem, is a religious act that ascribes salvation, not to God, but to the State or to its leaders. Soon after proclaiming the flag-salute resolution in January 1942, public school officials in Charleston, West Virginia, expelled several Jehovah’s Witnesses, including the children of Walter Barnette, for refusing to participate with their classmates in the required patriotic ceremony. Included with the script for ... flag and render the military salute. § 22.1-202. Pledge of Allegiance was written for the 400th anniversary, in 1892, of the discovery of America. I salute the Flag of Virginia with reverence and patriotic devotion to the "Mother of States and Statesmen" which it represents - the "Old Dominion" where Liberty and Independence were born. . Flag Salute, Voting, and Civilian Service Flag salute. The last change in language came on Flag Day 1954, when Congress passed a law, which added the words “under God” after “one nation.” Originally, the pledge was said with the right hand in the so-called “Bellamy Salute,” with the right hand resting first outward … A lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Jehovah's Witnesses, whose children had been disciplined in West Virginia schools for refusing to salute the flag or to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The stiff-armed gesture arose because Bellamy began the pledge (1892) with a military salute that was then extended out toward the flag. The official salute to the flag of Virginia was adopted in 1954. A day-long event commemorates the 75th anniversary of the 1943 [West Virginia v. Barnette] U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled public school students could not be forced to salute the American flag. I salute the Flag of Virginia with reverence and patriotic devotion to the "Mother of States and Statesmen" which it represents - the "Old Dominion" where Liberty and Independence were born. If you know this pledge please contact the webmaster West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 14, 1943, that compelling children in public schools to salute the U.S. flag was an unconstitutional violation of their freedom of speech and religion. The official salute to the flag of Virginia was adopted in 1954. Virginia I salute the flag of Virginia, with reverence and patriotic devotion to the ‘Mother of States and statesmen,’ which it represents—the ‘Old Dominion,’ where liberty and independence were born. v. Gobitis (1939), 70 Letter from Justice Frankfurter to Justice Stone, May 27, 1940, 74 Supreme Court Opinion in Minersville School District v.Gobitis, 76 West Virginia State Board of Education Flag Salute Regulation, 83