Are flags (US, state, etc...) supposed to be inside churches?

phillybri

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Wed Jun-16-04 02:08 PM
Original message

Are flags (US, state, etc...) supposed to be inside churches?

I was just in an Episcopal church and they had a US and North Carolina flag up by the altar.

It didn't bother me either way, but I feel like I've never seen that before...

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MallRat

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Wed Jun-16-04 02:10 PM
Response to Original message

1. My synagogue has one in the front hallway...

...but not the sanctuary.

My congregation is pretty apolitical, so it's never really bothered me.

-MR

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jono

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Wed Jun-16-04 02:14 PM
Response to Original message

2. My parents' church

has both the US flag and the state flag on either side of the altar. (They attend a Lutheran church.) I'd seen it in a couple different churches so I thought it was a pretty standard thing.

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eyesroll

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Wed Jun-16-04 02:15 PM
Response to Original message

3. It's probably up to the church

I can't imagine there'd be any legal prohibition against displaying a flag. The denomination may prohibit it (or encourage it), though.

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johnnie

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Wed Jun-16-04 02:21 PM
Response to Original message

4. Sure they can be

Why not? It's seperation of Church and State, not State and Church. No really, I don't see why anyone who is an American can't have a flag where they want it.

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noonwitch

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Wed Jun-16-04 02:36 PM
Response to Original message

5. My Unity church has an American flag on one side of the platform and

a flag with a picture of earth on the other side. It doesn't matter to me one way or another.

The UCC church I grew up attending had flags when I was a kid, but they were eventually removed and put in the Sunday School area. There was an American flag and a flag with a cross on it.

My brother is a UCC minister and almost got fired when he told his congregation not to hang a flag in the sanctuary after 9-11. I told him it was their church, and not necessarily his decision to begin with.

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gratuitous

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Wed Jun-16-04 02:40 PM
Response to Original message

6. Most churches have them

And most churches, in my opinion, are wrong to do so. If you ever drop by my congregation, you will find no American flags in the sanctuary.

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Loonman

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Wed Jun-16-04 02:49 PM
Response to Original message

7. Sure they are

Places of worship that display the flag also do it correctly, as well, which is more than I can say for the neo-con Sunshine Patriots.

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Rabrrrrrr

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Wed Jun-16-04 03:22 PM
Response to Original message

8. Not "supposed" to be

But a lot of churches - and this is pretty much ONLY in flag-waving patriotic America, no other country - DO fly the flag. That tradition started during WWII, and then kicked in a bit more during McCarthy. But there's no law that says they have to be displayed, or that they can't be displayed. Up to each individual church.

Personally, as a church professional theologian type, I think it's *wrong* to have the flag of ANY country in a Christian sanctuary. A UN flag, or an Earth flag, perhaps, but no country's flag.

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shoelace414

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Wed Jun-16-04 03:39 PM
Response to Reply #8

9. During the G8 summit

only one leader wore a flag on his lapel.

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Rabrrrrrr

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Wed Jun-16-04 03:42 PM
Response to Reply #9

11. Gosh, and let me guess who that asshole might have been

Uh............................. The Asshole In Chief, I bet!!

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UrbScotty

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Wed Jun-16-04 03:41 PM
Response to Original message

10. They have one in the back of my church (nt)

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