Church, State, and Flags

According to The Hill, “President Obama ordered that American flags be flown at half-staff until sunset on Wednesday in honor of the victims of the Colorado movie theater shooting.” This is supposed to apply to the White House and all public buildings and grounds, as well as embassies and military bases overseas and naval vessels.

Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe that the government is ordering all private flag flyers to lower the flag. I saw a car dealership today that had a large flag flying at the top of its flagpole. But what disturbed me today was seeing a church that had lowered the flag like it was a government building. This doesn’t surprise me since this same church had the Pledge in its church bulletin on the Sunday before the Fourth of July. Could the church have possibly lowered the flag on its own in honor of the shooting victims? Possibly. But this brings up a larger question: Why does a church have a flagpole out front and a flag inside to begin with?

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1:23 pm on July 22, 2012