There are overlooked connections between Columbus Day and the Pledge of Allegiance – both to the creation of the pledge itself in 1892 and the 1954 addition of the phrase “under God.”

Prayer can’t be forced, and neither can love of country. You either genuinely feel these things or you don’t. They can’t be turned on and off like a light switch at someone else’s command.

A U.S. Supreme Court opinion issued in 1943 forms the unlikely connection between former San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick and two 1940s West Virginia schoolgirls named Gathie and Marie Barnett. West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette is one of several dozen lawsuits brought by Jehovah’s Witnesses that played a major role in the evolution of First Amendment jurisprudence.