Not too long ago, the flag-folding ceremony at Air Force funerals included aspects that explicitly endorsed Christianity. The government recently eliminated a number of religious aspects to the ceremony without anyone noticing. Well, they just started to notice and they are gearing up to raise a big ruckus. Is their outrage justified? Not really, no.

Focus on the Family claims (via Carpetbagger):

The old, unofficial one began: “The first fold of our flag is a symbol of life. The second fold is a symbol of our belief in the eternal life.”

Folds 11 and 12 are the ones that led the atheists to challenge.

“The eleventh fold, in the eyes of a Hebrew citizen, represents the lower portion of the seal of King David and King Solomon, and glorifies, in their eyes, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The twelfth fold, in the eyes of a Christian citizen, represents an emblem of eternity and glorifies, in their eyes, God the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost.”

But the Air Force has replaced that unofficial script with an official one that contains no religious references. [emphasis added]

Notice that the older script was unofficial — it was never any official part of any military ceremony. Notice also the accusation that the change is due to complaints from atheists, but without any evidence supporting this. I belong to a number of atheist news and email lists and I never heard or saw anything describing complaints about this. I don’t doubt that some atheists somewhere complained, but non-Christian members of the military probably complained as well.

Finally, notice that this is the Air Force we’re talking about — not the military generally or any other branch of the military. Why is it the Air Force that keeps getting involved in these problems? It was at the Air Force academy that non-Christian cadets were proselytized to and Christianity favored. Bentley Rayburn is a retired Air Force major general running for office in Colorado who claims that the war in Iraq is necessary to open the Middle East for Christian evangelization and that God has called him to hold public office. There is a group of Air Force officers who belong to “Officers' Christian Fellowship,” an organization dedicated to transforming the military into an agency of “ambassadors for Christ.”

What has been going on with the Air Force in recent years? Does it have anything to do with the fact that James Dobson’s Focus on the Family organization is located near to the Air Force academy?

Matt Zimmerman, who directs the military Chaplains Commission for the National Association of Evangelicals, said there has not been an outcry about the change.

“I don’t think it’s on anybody’s radar,” he said. “No one sees this ceremony done – it’s not something that you see every day or every other day or even every other year.”

The opposition to this change is essentially being manufactured by a few leaders of conservative evangelical organizations. The relatives who have gone through the funerals and ceremonies evidently haven’t complained, but evangelical leaders don’t like it when the government stops endorsing their beliefs or encouraging people to adopt those beliefs. They need to understand, though, that in a religiously diverse nation it is inappropriate for the government to single out their religion for special treatment and favoritism. They imagine that America was founded on Christianity in some fashion but they are wrong — and they are being left behind by social and cultural developments that they cannot hope to stop.

 

Separation of Church & State:

• Separation of Church and State 101
• Secularism 101
• What is the Separation of Church and State?
• Religion's Place in the Public Square
• Myths About Church/State Separation

 

Christian & Religious Privilege:

• Religious Privilege
• Christian Privilege
• Hidden Christian Privileges
• Christian Supremacy