Unofficial Christian Flag Folding Being Represented As Official

July 1, 2015  |   Filed under: External,Featured,MAAF Operations,Marquis,Military Policy,News  |   Posted by:

Update 7/2, retraction post 7/3: US Army Recruiting Command Public Affairs confirmed to MAAF the Future Soldier Center post has been removed because it is unofficial, and they they have posted a correction. MAAF appreciates the swift and appropriate response. The Defense Media Agency should respond as well not just to acknowledge their error but to correct the misinformation to the audience affected as FSC did. In this way, these inappropriate promotions of religion can be seen as isolated rather than systematic, and our diverse military can operate without sectarian divisions.
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Unfortunately, it seems some unnamed military clerks have taken to promoting the Christian flag folding ceremony as official. This happens occasionally and most recently it has arisen in a Defense Media Activity Commander’s Call newsletter and a US Army recruiting activity called the US Army Future Soldier Center (link to post [removed 7/1], correction posted 7/3). The post (tagged by “TLH”) began with “WHY THE AMERICAN FLAG IS FOLDED 13 TIMES” (emphasis in original) thus presenting the ceremony to prospective recruits as official. These clerks made errors, publicly, and that should be corrected immediately and publicly with a reiteration that this sectarian Christian flag folding script is fine privately but in no way official.

For those who haven’t heard, the ceremony assigns meanings to the folds of the flag including:

our belief in eternal life… our weaker nature… for His divine guidance… to the one who entered into the valley of the shadow of death… the seal of King David and King Solomon … God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit.

The script also references “the Hebrew citizen” in one fold as a bit of token diversity to gloss over the exclusive Christian nature of the script. And for those private individuals and organizations holding private ceremonies who wish to entangle Christianity with the American flag, they are free to use this script to do so. But for those who are representing the US military especially in entirely secular duties, they have no right to use their position to promote Christianity or to misrepresent military policy.

flagfoldNews flash: It has 13 folds because that’s how geometry works.

In response to recent issues, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and Americans United for Separation of Church and State entered a campaign to correct the Commander’s Call error. MAAF contacted the Future Soldier Center facebook page administrators by phone and US Army Recruiting Command, but calls were not immediately returned. It’s important that recruiting command and Defense Media Agency take action action to advertise that the Christian ceremonies are unofficial and were posted in error. Those individuals who incorrectly posted policy should be corrected, but more importantly, military leaders must take action to undo the false and exclusionary message sent through Commander’s Call and the Future Soldier Center.

Almost 10 years ago, in response to MAAF complaints about similar representations of the Christian flag folding ceremony as official, the Air Force published a new protocol regulation with an official script. About 5 years ago, chaplains included the script in Army “Spiritual Fitness.” After complaints from MAAF and many others, the script was removed. Older documents like an Air Force Honor Guard guide from 2001 have included the script and may still inappropriately include such elements. It’s unfortunate that these issues occasionally pop up and more unfortunate still that leaders and chaplains in the military seem unwilling to resolve them without continuing outside pressure.