Veterans and other citizens challenge the constitutionality of a Christian flag flown over a war memorial in a public park in King, North Carolina. Supporters defend the presence of a Christian flag on free speech and free exercise grounds but the King city council set up a lottery for citizens to decide on and take personal responsibility for what flag is flown.
Constitutional & Legal Issues of Flying a Christian Flag
The memorial is clearly and unambiguously a government memorial. The flag in question is not a neutral or political flag, it's a Christian flag sending a religious message. This was implicitly admitted by King City Council Member Wesley Carter who argued that flying the flag was a matter of "religious freedom." Carter couldn't think that "religious freedom" is at stake unless he thinks the flag carries a religious message and religious significance.
The legal issue thus involves the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment: does the government have the authority to single out one religion to promote, endorse, favor, etc.?
Why Challenge the Christian Flag in King, North Carolina?
Any messages communicated by any flags picked by the government are necessarily government messages â€" messages expressed and endorsed by the government. Ergo, none of the messages can be religious in nature. The is not permitted to support or oppose any religious beliefs, religious practices, religious institutions, or religions generally. A Christian flag does exactly this and that's why it is unambiguously unconstitutional for any government agency or institution to fly it.
Why Defend the Christian Flag in King, North Carolina?
The only argument offered by defenders of flying a Christian flag is that of religious freedom. The issue is not one of religious freedom, though (the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment). When a message is coming from the government, it isn't protected by "religious freedom."
The government doesn't have rights, only people do. Individuals have the religious freedom to fly a Christian flag, the government does not. Government officials and employees do not have any "religious freedom" to express religious messages when acting on behalf of the government. They only have such a right when acting as private individuals.
Proposed Solution: Let Residents Choose a Flag in a Lottery
The King city council chose a type of solution often tried: transfer responsibility for the religious message from the government to individual citizens. This sort of solution can be quite successful because individual citizens have a protected right to express religious messages. However, a lot depends on the details. The more involved the government remains, the more suspect the solution becomes.
Because the King city council retains the authority to pick and choose which flags are acceptable, the government also retains some responsibility for what messages are allowed. Because only religious flags are permitted, the government can at the very least be accused of impermissibly favoring religion and religious messages over secular messages.
If the flying of a Christian flag were a wholly personal act then it would be fully protected by the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. That private citizens are able to do this has been demonstrated when someone chooses to fly no flag: local residents come to the war memorial in the morning with a Christian flag and their own flag pole and stay there all day. This is legal and protected speech.
Christian Supremacism Behind the Christian Flag
If the government and the community were truly interested in respect individual liberty and the equality of all, there would no serious objections to any flag chosen by any resident. The reality, though, is radically different: people who dare to choose something other than the Christian Flag are attacked and the absence of a Christian Flag in a prominent, official place has prompted Christians to bring their own Christian Flag to fly personally next to the war memorial.
No one else brings their own flags to fly when a Christian Flag is flying on an official, permanent flag pole. This indicates that Christians in King, North Carolina believe that a symbol of their religion and a message from their religion somehow should be an integral part of a public memorial all the time, even though not all residents are Christian and even though not all veterans have been Christian.
It would appear that the "solution" of letting residents pick a flag to fly was designed with the expectation that everyone would just happen to pick a Christian flag, thus ensuring that a Christian flag retains its prominent place and that there continues to be an impression of government endorsement, but in a manner that lets the city council keep its hands clean.
Pastor Kevin Broyhill was quoted on a now-defunct Facebook Fan Page for defenders of the Christian flag as explaining the plan: "The city will set the stipulations of who can fly a flag in honor of their loved one who has served in the Armed Forces. That is where the word 'limited' comes in. It restricts who can participate which will eliminate outsiders from taking over the pole. The idea is for Christians to fill up the reservation list and tie up the pole for years to come. This will ensure that the Christian Flag keeps flying. Calvary [Baptist Church] will buy several Christian Flags for people to use so that everyone doesn't have to buy their own flag. We'll even put it up for you!"
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