It is truly sad how Americans are acting about our flag. I am certain that many Americans will disagree with me about my views; however, that is okay. I realize that all Americans have the right to feel their own way without a view being pushed upon them. All Americans also have the freedom of speech. I am disappointed in our government for not keeping "God" out of our national pledge, off of our money, out of our court rooms, out of our schools, etc. I realize that all Americans are NOT spiritual nor religious.  It is not right to get angry when an American wants nothing to do with any type of religious saying or ritual. We all love our country and we all respect our flag. We do NOT all have a religion or a belief  involving a "God". 

Please respect your fellow Americans. Many have fought for us in wars. Many have lost their lives. Many did not (and do not) believe in a "God". Many did (and do) believe in a "God". Judging a person by their belief or non belief in a "God" is not going to solve our problems in this country.  Respect gets far more accomplished than ridicule.

Before anyone reading this wishes to assume what I truly believe in... It is not a Christian based belief but it is a belief and a faith in something of a higher power. So, rest assured, I am NOT judging others nor do I feel it is right to push my belief on others as the government and many push their belief of a "God" onto myself and my loved ones.

The flag laws and regulations as set by Public Law and amended July 7, 1976 by the 94th Congress of the United States are below. The laws set forth existing rules, customs and etiquette pertaining to the display and use of the flag.

Section 174. Time and Occasions for display; hoisting and lowering

(a) Display on buildings and stationary flagstaffs in open; night display
It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed twenty-four hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.

(b) Manner of hoisting
The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.

(c) Inclement weather
The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is inclement, 
except when an all weather flag is displayed.

(d) Particular days of display
The flag should be displayed on all days, especially on:

New Year's Day, January 1
Inauguration Day, January 20
Lincoln's Birthday, February 12
Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday
Washington's Birthday, third Monday in February
Easter Sunday (variable)
Mother's Day, second Sunday in May
Father's Day
Armed Forces Day, third Saturday in May
Memorial Day (half-staff until noon), the last Monday in May
Flag Day, June 14
Independence Day, July 4
Labor Day, first Monday in September
Constitution Day, September 17
Columbus Day, second Monday in October
Navy Day, October 27
Veterans Day, November 11
Thanksgiving Day, fourth Thursday in November
Christmas Day, December 25
Birthdays of States (date of admission)
State holidays
Election Days
and such other days as may be proclaimed by the President of the United States

(e) Display on or near administration building of public institutions
The flag should be displayed daily on or near the main 
administration building of every public institution.

(f) Display in or near polling places
The flag should be displayed in or near every polling place on election days.

(g) Display in or near schoolhouses
The flag should be displayed during school days in or near every schoolhouse.
 

Section 175. Position and manner of display
The flag, when carried in a procession with another flag or flags, 
should be either on the marching right; that is, the flag's own right, 
or, if there is a line of other flags, in front of the center of that line.

(a) The flag should not be displayed on a float in a parade except 
from a staff, or as provided in subsection (i) of this section.

(b) The flag should not be draped over the hood, top, sides, or back of a vehicle
or of a railroad train or a boat. When the flag is displayed on a motorcar, the 
staff  shall be fixed firmly to the chassis or clamped to the right fender.

(c) No other flag or pennant should be placed above or, if on the same level, to the 
right of the flag of the United States of America, except during church services
conducted by naval chaplains at sea, when the church pennant may be flown above
the flag during church services for the personnel of the Navy. No person shall display 
the flag of the United Nations or any other national or international flag equal, above, 
or in a position of superior prominence or honor to, or in place of, the flag of the United States at any place within the United States or any Territory or possession thereof: 
Provided, That nothing in this section shall make unlawful the continuance of the practice heretofore followed of displaying the flag of the United Nations in a position of superior prominence or honor, and other national flags in positions of equal prominence or honor,
with that of the flag of the United States at the headquarters of the United Nations.

(d) The flag of the United States of America, when it is displayed with another flag
against a wall from crossed staffs, should be on the right, the flag's own right, and 
its staff should be in front of the staff of the other flag.

(e) The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the 
highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or 
pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from the staffs.

(f) When flags of States, cities, or localities, or pennants of societies are flown on the same halyard with the flag of the United States, the latter should always be at the peak. When the flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the flag of the United States should be hoisted first and lowered last. No such flag or pennant may be placed above the flag of the United States 
or to the United States flag's right.

(g) When flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are to be flown from separate 
staffs of the same height. The flags should be approximately equal size. International
usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation 
in time of peace.

(h) When the flag of the United States is displayed from a staff projecting horizontally
or at an angle from the window sill, balcony, or front of a building, the union of the 
flag should be placed at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half staff. When the 
flag is suspended over a sidewalk from a rope extending from a house to a pole at 
the edge of the sidewalk, the flag should be hoisted out, union first, from the building.

(i) When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be uppermost and to the flag's own right, that is, to the observer's left. When displayed 
in a window, the flag should be displayed in the same way, with the union or blue 
field to the left of the observer in the street.

(j) When the flag is displayed over the middle of the street, it should be 
suspended vertically with the union to the north in an east and west street
or to the east in a north and south street.

(k) When used on a speaker's platform, the flag, if displayed flat, should be 
displayed above and behind the speaker. When displayed from a staff in a 
church or public auditorium, the flag of the United States of America should
hold the position of superior prominence, in advance of the audience, and in
the position of honor at the clergyman's or speaker's right as he faces the 
audience. Any other flag so displayed should be placed on the left of the 
clergyman or speaker or to the right of the audience.

(l) The flag should form a distinctive feature of the ceremony of unveiling 
a statue or monument, but it should never be used as the covering for 
the statue or monument.

(m) The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for 
an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again
raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day. On Memorial Day the flag 
should be displayed at half-staff until noon only, then raised to the top of the staff.
By order of the President, the flag shall be flown at half-staff upon the death of
principal figures of the United States Government and the Governor of a State, 
territory, or possession, as a mark of respect to their memory. In the event of
the death of other officials or foreign dignitaries, the flag is to be displayed
at half-staff according to Presidential instructions or orders, or in accordance 
with recognized customs or practices not inconsistent with law. In the event of the 
death of a present or former official of the government of any State, territory, or 
possession of the United States, the Governor of that State, territory, orpossession
may proclaim that the National flag shall be flown at half-staff. The flag shall be flown
at half-staff thirty days from the death of the President or a former President; ten days
from the day of death of the Vice President, the Chief Justice or a retired Chief Justice 
of the United States, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives; from the day 
of death until interment, a former Vice President, or the Governor of a State, territory, 
or possession; and on the day of death and the following day for a Member of Congress.
As used in this subsection -

(1) the term "half-staff" means the position of the flag when it is one-half 
the distance between the top and bottom of the staff;

(2) the term "executive or military department" means any agency 
listed under sections 101 and 102 of title 5; and

(3) the term "Member of Congress" means a Senator, a Representative, 
a Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico.

(n) When the flag is used to cover a casket, it should be so placed that the
union is at the head and over the left shoulder. The flag should not be 
lowered into the grave or allowed to touch the ground.

(o) When the flag is suspended across a corridor or lobby in a building with only 
one main entrance, it should be suspended vertically with the union of the flag to the observer's left upon entering. If the building has more than one main entrance, the flag
should be suspended vertically near the center of the corridor or lobby with the union 
to the north, when entrances are to the east and west or to the east when entrances are
to the north and south. If there are entrances in more than two directions, the union 
should be to the east.

Section 176 Respect for flag
No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the flag 
should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, State flags, and 
organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.

(a) The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of 
dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.

(b) The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, 
water, or merchandise.

(c) The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.

(d) The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should 
never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free. 
Bunting of blue, white and red, always arranged with the blue above, the white in
the middle, and the red below, should be used for covering a speaker's desk,
draping the front of the platform, and for decoration in general.

(e) The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner 
as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.

(f) The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling.

(g) The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached 
to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.

(h) The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying,
or delivering anything.

(i) The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It 
should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, 
printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed 
for temporary use and discard. Advertising signs should not be fastened to a staff of 
halyard from which the flag is flown.

(j) No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform. However, a flag patch may be affixed to the uniform of military personnel, firemen, policemen, and members 
of patriotic organizations. The flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing. Therefore, the lapel flag pin being a replica, should be worn on the left lapel near the heart.

(k) The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, 
should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.

Section 177. Conduct during hoisting, lowering or passing of flag
During the ceremony of hoisting or lowering the flag or when the flag is passing in a parade 
of in review, all persons present except for those in uniform should face the flag and stand 
at attention with the right hand over the heart. Those present in uniform should render the military salute. When not in uniform, men should remove their headdress with their right 
hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Aliens should stand at attention. The salute to the flag in a moving column should be rendered at the moment the
flag passes.

Original Pledge To The Flag

"I pledge allegiance to the flag,
of the United States of America,
and to the republic for which it stands,
One Nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

After appearing in a copy of the Youth's Companion, in 1892, as celebration of the 
100th anniversary of the discovery of America, the pledge to the flag received the 
official recognition of Congress on June 22, 1942. The phrase, "Under God", was 
added by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who said that, "in this way we are 
reaffirming the trascendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in 
this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will 
be our country's most powerful resource in peace and war.

Ammended Pledge

"I pledge allegiance to the flag,
of the United States of America,
and to the republic for which it stands,
One Nation, Under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

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