Gulf War veteran Jason Ballmes, the food services director at Asbury Theological Seminary, put the flags in the cafeteria "to show our honor and support of our troops serving in harm's way," he said on the seminary's "Table Talk" chat room last week.
"A handful of people, from this country and others, felt that this was an offensive gesture and ... that being a Christian and a patriot do not go together," Ballmes wrote.
He explained that "political correctness has entered the scene, and he was asked to remove the flags."
Seminary officials ordered the flags removed because they are "not the most fitting way of representing this conflict."
"God's people do not wave flags as the sign of conquest. We bear crosses as the sign of reconciliation," an official statement said Friday.
The statement of the seminary administration also said that people on campus "hold many different interests and positions as relates to the present war."
Steve Moore, senior vice president, said that a candle, yellow ribbon and a piece of barbed wire would be a better representation of how people at the seminary feel about the war.
"We encourage people to light a candle and pray for our troops, for peace, quick resolution to the war and to the injustice," he said.
Ballmes refused to elaborate on the incident, saying the seminary's official statement was "good enough."
"The seminary has a perfectly valid statement," he said.
Some students supported Ballmes actions.
"To have a flag of being an issue of division is a painful thing," said Sean Levine, a student and U.S. Army reservist. "We believe in a military community very strongly in what the flag stands for. They are making it to seem that this value is in conflict with the value of being a Christian."
Levine said that as an army reservist who is in training to be a chaplain, he feels "isolated and alienated on campus."
"There is also that feeling that as part of a military community, you are not appreciated here," he said.
Paula Winchester, another student, said there should be more support for American troops on campus.
"We should support them whether we agree (on starting the war) or not," she said. "If I was there, I would want to know that my country is behind me."
Jamey Lee said that removing the flags was justified by the fact that some students on campus are pacifists and some are not.
"There was a division on campus on how students feel about the war, and the flags on the tables bring to mind the disagreement we have and cause arguments to arise," he said. "It was the right decision to replace them with candles, because we all can pray for the troops whether or not we agree with the war."
Ray Nothstine said he was disappointed with the administration removing the flags because he felt it was violation of the First Amendment right of free speech. Nothstine and his friend, Adam Justice, bring their own flags and display them on the table every time they come to the cafeteria.
"We're showing our nonviolent protest just like Martin Luther King did," Justice said. "Bringing my flag to lunch every day is the least I can do to support the president and our troops."
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Are the pacifists not Americans? Last time I looked, the American flag is a national symbol. And the National Anthem says something about the "flag was still there."
(snip) The colors of the flag:
The red is for valor, zeal and fervency;
The white for hope, purity, cleanliness of life and rectitude of conduct;
The blue, the color of heaven, for reverence to God, loyalty, sincerity, justice and truth.
The Star (an ancient symbol of India, Persia and Egypt) symbolizes dominion and sovereignty, as well as lofty aspiration.
The constellation of stars within the union, one star for each state, is emblematic of our Federal Constitution, which, reserves to the States their individual sovereignty except as to rights delegated by them to the Federal Government.
The symbolism of the flag was thus interpreted by Washington; "We take the stars from heaven the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down in posterity representing liberty."
I've seen too many Spanish Forts to agree with that.