Name:
Date:
Minersville vs. Gobitis Case Background Reading
Period:
DIRECTIONS: Read and MARK-UP the following introduction to the Supreme Court case, and
answer the comprehension questions for each section.
To fully understand the Supreme Court case Minersville vs.
Gobitis, it is important to put it in the context of world events.
Before the case ever reached the U.S. Supreme Court, German
Jehovah’s Witnesses were targets of persecution under the
Nazi regime. One of the reasons Jehovah’s Witnesses were
targeted is that they had refused to fight for Germany during
World War I. They believed that they were citizens of
Jehovah’s Kingdom, so it would be wrong to swear allegiance
to any nation or to fight for any other nation.
CHECK your comprehension: Why were the Jehovah’s Witnesses persecuted in
Germany?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In the early 1930s, authorities in
many German cities and states
charged Jehovah’s Witnesses with
“illegal peddling” when they
attempted to proselytize [convert
someone from one religion to
another] door-to-door. Nazis banned
their religious literature and Nazi
police confiscated many of their
printing presses. Many Jehovah’s
Witnesses lost their jobs and public
benefits. Then, the Nazi government
passed laws banning Jehovah’s
Witnesses from Germany, in part for
their refusal to participate in the
raised-palm salutes to Nazi flags in
schools and public events.
Women from Hitler Youth saluting the Nazi flag.
Continued on the back….
Name:
Date:
Minersville vs. Gobitis Case Background Reading
Period:
In 1935, when Hitler’s government reintroduced a compulsory military service, Jehovah’s
Witnesses again refused to comply [agree]. Hundreds of Jehovah’s Witnesses were arrested and
sent to prisons and concentration camps for their refusal to obey the state and for continuing to
practice their religion. (By 1945, more than 10,000 Jehovah's Witnesses had been sent to
concentration camps and it is estimated that between 2,500 and 5,000 died in those camps.)
CHECK your understanding: Describe how Jehovah’s witnesses were persecuted in
Germany.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In 1935, in response to these unfolding
events, Joseph Rutherford, the American
leader of the Jehovah's Witnesses, made a
radio address denouncing compulsory
[required] flag salute laws in the United
States. (At the time, the American flag salute
made during the Pledge of Allegiance
resembled the Nazi salute with the hand
held high in the air (Figure 2).) Rutherford
called on Jehovah’s Witnesses in America
not to salute the flag or recite the Pledge.
The original Salute to the American Flag (the Belamy salute). This
was changed to the hand-over-heart after World War II
RESPOND to this passage with one CCQ (Comment, Connection, or Question):
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________