What would you do ?

[Jim West Pa]

I attended a cathlic church yesterday(not by choice), and when i saw our American flag improperly displayed i sent them the below e-mail.Check out the response i got.

I attended a service at your church on sunday 8 July and i saw that you have our American flag improperly displayed inside your church.
As you can see in the code of display of the American flag, pasted below, it should be to the right of your alter behind the speakers right shoulder.
For you to have it displayed as you do is a sign of disrespect to our Nations flag. Would you please make the correction to display it properly.

Thank you, Jim P

(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.

Dear Mr P,
We never meant any disrespect to the flag. I guess my question would be, is it better to have the flag in the church or not. Because of the Church regulations the flag is not supposed to be in the sanctuary of area (the area of the altar) but is placed on the steps beside the sanctuary. So technically it is not on the speaker platform, but is on display because of our concern for this great symbol of our freedom. We do not really have any other resolution to this problem because the other side of the sanctuary area is the tabernacle, and thus it would not be allowed to presented next to it.
Fr Al McGinnis

 

[Pete in MI]

If they have an outside flag there would be no real requirement or need for one inside. In their case they seem to have a problem with trying to serve 2 masters. I think whenever someone tries to appease both - neither is happy.

If they can fly the American flag outside they can remove the one from inside and still satisfy those who love their country. Just my thoughts.

Though there is nothing official anywhere there is no mention of where to fly a Christian flag that I am aware of.

As Americans we have stated no other country's flag can be flown above the American flag. They all can be on separate poles at the same height but never one above the other. Other flags such as State flags fly below the American flag because they are only States of a Nation - not the greater of the two. So they are subordinate and thus lower on the pole.

I once ran across a church that had the American flag at half mast on its own pole and it also had many other country flags on their own poles at full mast. I wrote to the church that did this and got a verbal tongue lashing. To that I kicked the dust off my feet and turned it over to God.

Back to the Christian flag. If as we say we are One Nation Under God would it be appropriate to fly the Christian flag (not a national flag) above the American flag? Would it be disrespectful to God to fly the Christian flag below the American flag? If both the Christian flag and American flag are on separate poles does the Christian flag get lowered to half mast whenever the American flag is at half mast?

I'm not trying to stir up people into a frenzy. What I am getting at is there are obvious things that those who penned the Flag Etiquette did not consider. Here is another supposition. Suppose it was made legal and considered correct to fly the Christian flag above the American flag to represent One Nation Under God. What would people do or say if someone say raise a flag bearing the Star of David above the American flag, or even the religious flag of anyone else over the American flag to represent their God over our nation?

See a lot of things not thought of or even considered back in the days of the writing the etiquette of the flag that has to be given thought and probably decided on, made legal.

If one cannot fulfill the letter of the law, then it is wrong at this point. To say is it better to improperly display the flag or not display it at all is a wrong statement. It should NOT be displayed improperly. If there is a choice as in this case to appease 2 masters - no remove it entirely. Let the outside flag be the one to represent our nation.

That is my thoughts - love it or hate it.

I guess in the end when Jesus returns He will not care one dot if our flag was properly flown or not. Will He ask me how many wrongs I made right? or will He ask me How many have I helped to come into Heaven and be with us and our Heavenly Father?

For years I wore the American flag on my back. (To represent how my country turned its back on our veterans and even now cheated me out a retirement that was earned and promised me.) For years I have wanted to fly the flag upside down. (Because the way the U.S. is going down the tubes it certainly would seem to be in distress to me. When I am asked at an ATM which language to print messages to me in English or Spanish something is seriously wrong with this country. Apparently we cannot differentiate between aliens coming here legally to live in freedom and give back to this great Nation and those who come here ILLEGALLY i.e. breaking our laws only to get what they can take - giving nothing back)

Anyway, let us choose our battles and let the battles be won for the Lord.

 

[SEMPERFI61]

he was one of this liberal preachers---said the christian flag and american flag did not belong on the platforum.needless to say i left.

 

[Jim West Pa]

But frankly, you should allready know it, as should everyone else. From the very first time we all placed our hand over our heart and said the "Pledge of Allegiance".
Here's a link to the code. http://www.steve4u.com/flagcode.htm

"To that I kicked the dust off my feet and turned it over to God."
I personaly took an oath to defend our flag and i would never ever "kick the dust from my feet" when it comes to defending Her.

And yes, there is a flag pole outside the church but i have never seen our flag on it, in fact, there sin't even a rope on iot to raise our flag.

 

[Pete in MI]

Why do you ask 'What would you do?" Then when someone tells you what they would do you decide they are wrong. If you ask any more question I for one will not answer.

Another point you might want to check is the use of SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, MAY, MAY NOT and SHALL and SHALL NOT.

Should and Should Not are not DEFINITE. They are Desireable but certainly not a COMMAND that HAS TO BE OBEYED.

May and May Not - these are more DEFINITE. But again these are OPTIONS.

Shall is the STRONGEST word in the English language. It is DEFINITE. Shall Not is the same...it is DEFINITE.

There is NO DOUBT when Shall and Shall Not are used.

So go back an re-read those Codes of Etiquette and see where you find the words SHOULD and SHOULD NOT, MAY and MAY NOT, and SHALL and SHALL NOT.

When the the 10 Commandments were made God used SHALL and SHALL NOT. He is the Supreme, Almighty, Lord Most High, etc. and when God said SHALL and SHALL NOT, you think He meant "Well if you want to?" "Would you or Could you? No, He meant exactly what He said. It was DEFINITE. There was no DOUBT.

There is no doubt in my mind that you love the flag. Do you love your God as much? Have you pledged as much allegiance to Him and to the family of God as you do the flag? What is more important to put you love, faith and trust in? God? or A Nation of men that are not perfect, they make mistakes, they take the 10 Commandments and pick and choose which ones they will and will not obey, etc.

I love the flag too. I served 11 years of my life serving under it in the Air Force, I fought in Vietnam under that flag, I have saluted it, I had folded it at military funerals when comrades died and were buried, I handed the flag to the grieving wife, as a cop in the military I raised and lowered that flag for the base on a daily basis, so when you ask what I would do and I tell you either don't ask if you don't want to know but don't shove rules down my throat that you think are written in stone...only the 10 Commandments were written in stone.


'Nuff said. God bless America and forever and ever may Jesus be our Lord.

Here on out Jim any question you ask will not be responded to by me. May God bless you and your family.