Naval Academy's Dipping of Flag In Religious Services Questioned

Saturday's New York Times reports on a new religious controversy at the U.S. Naval Academy. For 40 years at the Academy's widely-attended 11 a.m. Protestant service, the color guard has dipped the U.S. and the Academy flags before the altar cross. One congregant describes the practice as showing "that our country is one nation under God and the nation-state is not the highest authority in the world." Last October, the Academy's superintendent, Vice Adm. Jeffrey L. Fowler, raised questions about the practice and chaplains suspended it. However, after complaints by congregants and alumni, the flag dipping has been reinstituted, and Adm. Fowler has stopped attending the service. The practice is not carried out anywhere else in the Navy, and the National Flag Foundation's Flag Code says the flag "should not be dipped for any person or thing." [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]