Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, which urged the King City Council to remove the Christian flag from the city’s Veteran’s Memorial in August, said it questions the legality of the city’s proposed policy for religious flags.
But the organization has not decided whether it would sue the city over it.
Rob Boston, a senior policy analyst with Americans United, said that the proposal is flawed because families of veterans who aren’t religious are being excluded under the policy.
“Constitutional law and simple decency require that all veterans should be included in a memorial like this,” Boston said. “The city government should remain neutral on religious matters while allowing residents to fly whatever flags — religious or non-religious — that they see fit on their own property.”
Two of the symbols are not religious: those for Atheism and Humanism.
Joe Infranco, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund, said that Americans United is misinformed about the proposed policy.
“Only a group with the extremist view of eliminating public expressions of faith could reach this conclusion over individuals honoring veterans,” said Infranco, who helped the city of King develop the policy.
City officials posted a proposal for a new policy regarding flags at the memorial Tuesday night on its website. The city would use a lottery system to randomly pick those who would choose the flag.
The policy would allow 41 symbols — approved by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs — to be flown on flags at the memorial in the city’s Central Park.
King residents can complete and sign a two-page application to ask if they can fly a religious flag at the memorial to honor a relative who served in the U.S. military. Each flag would be flown for a week.
The council will consider the proposed policy at its meeting on Monday. If approved, the policy would go into effect Jan. 1.
jhinton@wsjournal.com
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