Banned in Boston — the Christian Flag
by Steve Byas
TheNewAmerican.com
Monday, 15 July 2019
At one time, the phrase “banned in Boston” was a popular American phrase, which conjured up memories of the city’s strict Puritan heritage, and generally referred to a movie, play, or even a written work that had been banned in the city. At one time, Boston officials often banned works which they found to have sexual content or foul language. Eventually, the phrase came to be almost a synonym for anything considered naughty.
With its move to the Left over the decades, it is apparently now the Christian flag that has been “banned in Boston.”
After Hal Shurtleff, the director and the co-founder of Camp Constitution, requested the city to fly the Christian flag as part of the city’s annual Constitution Day festivities on September 17, 2017, the city refused to allow it. Camp Constitution holds an annual summer camp now located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, that teaches kids about the nation’s Godly heritage and also sponsors other year-round events.
After the city rejected the request, Shurtleff asked for a written reason, and was told that to fly a religious flag on city property would be a violation of the First Amendment, arguing that the First Amendment required a strict separation between church and state.
“There’s no question that it is an unconstitutional act and [the city] originally said it was a violation of the First Amendment, which I find ironic,” Shurtleff told Fox News. “I’m optimistic the lawsuit will go our way.”
The city offered to allow the flag if it was called the Camp Constitution flag, rather than the Christian flag, a compromise the group rejected. Shurtleff, in an interview with The New American, said it was clear that “nomenclature was the issue,” that the city government did not want to allow something in the celebration if it were called Christian. Camp Constitution had desired to hold an event in which pastors would encourage racial reconciliation, freedom in the United States, and celebration of the link between the United States and the Christian faith. They planned to conclude the event with the presentation of the Christian flag.
“Censoring religious viewpoints in a public forum where secular viewpoints are permitted violates the First Amendment,” argued Matthew Staver, the founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. Liberty Counsel is a religious freedom law firm. “Boston city officials may not ban the Christian flag as part of a privately-sponsored event when they allow any other flag by numerous private organizations. It’s time for the court to stop the city’s unconstitutional censorship.”
While a federal court and an appellate court initially ruled for the city against Shurtleff, a new lawsuit appears more promising because of some new “key facts.” Among those key facts are that the city has allowed a flag — the Turkish flag — which includes an Islamic star and crescent moon, not once, but 13 times since 2005. Shurtleff also told The New American that he found it ironic that the city seal of Boston includes the wording, SICIT PATRIBUS, SIT DEUS, which translated means, “God be with us as he was with our fathers.”
The Rest…HERE
