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<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=160 BGCOLOR="#333333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="040dedc2ddualp.gif"> <div> <A HREF="id50.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Description"><U><B><IMG SRC="04214150.gif" border=0 width="20" height="21" ALT="previous" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B> </B><A HREF="id52.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Guidelines"><U><B><IMG SRC="04314150.gif" border=0 width="20" height="21" ALT="next" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Flag Code, Respect and Laws"><U><B><IMG SRC="04415150.gif" border=0 width="21" height="21" ALT="up" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B> </B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="21" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="21"></div> <div> <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Christian Flag"><U>Christian Flag</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Idolatry"><U>Idolatry</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id49.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Origination"><U>Origination</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id50.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Description"><U>Description</U></A></div> <div> <B>Code</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id52.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Guidelines"><U>Guidelines</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Law"><U>Law</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="04164643.gif"> <div> <B>Flag Code, Respect and Laws</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" >     |     </FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000BF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Flag Code, Respect and Laws"><U>home</U></A></FONT></div> <div> Code</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Original Official Actions Instituting</B></div> <div> <B>And Affirming The Christian Flag Code</B></div> <div> I. This is the original official action. It was taken by the Michigan Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, Kalamazoo, Michigan, at its session of June 4-9, 1941.<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> The Christian Flag And Christian Symbols</div> <div> The proper use of Christian symbols and religious aids is of great significance and extreme importance. To clarify the prevalent confusion concerning proper display of the Christian Flag, to place in the hands of Christian people an objective and authoritative precedent for such display, and to make clear beyond all possible doubt or ambiguity the fact that the Christian Church and her ministers and people choose to give highest honor to Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God: </div> <bR> <div> We recommend that a Christian Flag of good quality and suitable size be placed in the sanctuary of each of our churches. </div> <div> And we enjoin the use of the following rules for the correct display of the Christian Flag: </div> <div> When the Christian Flag is displayed on the floor level with the congregation, it shall be from a staff to the right of the congregation as they face the altar. All other flags shall be placed to the other side. </div> <div> When the Christian Flag is displayed within the chancel, or on any level above that of the floor of the congregation, it shall be from a staff to the right of the clergyman as he faces the congregation. All other flags shall be placed to his left. </div> <div> In order that the benefits of this Christian Flag may be shared by other people than those of our own churches, we do petition: </div> <div> The Federal Council of Churches of Christ to take steps toward formal adoption of this precedent. </div> <div> The other great religious bodies of the United States to make a similar adoption. </div> <div> And the American Flag Congress at its next session to incorporate these rules into their published diagrams of flag display. </div> <bR> <div> II. Here is the official action of The Federal Council of Churches of Christ, dated January 23, 1942.<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> Whereas the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America has received overtures and inquiries concerning the appropriate use and position of flags within the sanctuary dedicated to the worship of God, therefore be it resolved that the Executive Committee of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, without attempting to prescribe regulation, offers the following observations as advice to the churches: </div> <div> The Cross itself is generally accepted as a good and sufficient symbol for the House of God in the Christian tradition, without the use of a church flag. </div> <div> If a flag or banner representing the loyalty of the church to the Head is used along with the flag of the nation in the sanctuary, the symbol of loyalty to God should have the highest place of honor.  According to tradition, ancient and modern, the place of the highest honor is to the right: on the floor level of the congregation, to the right of the congregation; in the church on any level above that of the floor of the congregation, to the right of the clergyman as he faces the congregation. </div> <bR> <div> III. Here is the official action of The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., at its 154th General Assembly, 1942:<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> While affirming that within the Christian tradition the Cross is sufficient symbol for loyalty to God, the assembly also recognizes the generally accepted Christian Flag not as something important in itself, but as a symbol of the Kingdom of our Lord: Sanctions its use on appropriate occasions in churches and during services of worship, either by itself or with other flags; and urges that whenever the Christian Flag is used, it should have the place of honor, worthy of the Kingdom for which it stands. </div> <div> These official actions entered above, complete and verbatim, comprise the basic triad upon which rests the historical authority of the Christian Flag Code. There is, and there can be, no higher earthly authority for the Christian Church than the Christian Church itself under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Christian Flag Code stands secure upon the rock of this authority</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>