A recent story about the office of the Architect of the Capitol removing the word “God” from a certificate requested by a youth who had ordered the flag for his grandfather absolutely shocked me, and should shock every person of faith in this country! The program allows for people to order flags that have been flown over the Capitol building along with a Certificate of Authenticity with an inscription of your choice. 17-year old Paul Larochelle ordered a flag to present to his grandfather after he (Paul) had been inducted into the Eagle Scouts. The note that he had requested on the certificate was, “this flag was flown in honor of Marcel Larochelle, my grandfather, for his dedication and love of God, country and family.” The office of the Architect of the Capitol, who sends these flags out, removed the word “God” from this certificate.

This act should outrage anyone who believes in the First Amendment which allows citizens the right to practice religion, and prevents the government from inhibiting the practice of religion. As a Christian, and having served in the United States Marine Corps, I recognize the significance of the statement that Paul made regarding his grandfather. Dedication to God, country, and family is quite an honorable life, and one would be hard pressed to find better Americans than those that this statement can be made about. The removal of the word “God” from this statement not only diminishes the quality of the statement about the man, but it also lowers the standard of what defines a great American. I also believe that it is a violation of one American’s freedom of expression and the honoring of a great man.

So, I am calling all Christians into action right now! I would like to overwhelm the office of the Architect of the Capitol with orders for flags declaring, “In God we trust!”. I not only challenge every reader to order a flag (only costs $13-22, depending on size of flag) with the request for this declaration on the certificate, but I also challenge you to forward this challenge to every other God-fearing, red-blooded American. I would love to see the requests for flags with the “In God we trust!” declaration reach a level that it makes national news. This is NOT okay, and it should NOT be acceptable to any of us!

Flags must be ordered through your Senator’s or Representative’s office, but the instructions for how to do it can be found at…

Architect of the Capitol :: Capitol Flags

When Jesus saw something that outraged him, He turned over the temple tables. It is time that we take a stand and make it known how important issues like this really are to some of America’s best citizens.

Challenge to other bloggers:
In fact, if you are another blogger, I also challenge you to post a challenge to your readers, and if you do, then I award you the following badge to display proudly on your site with a link back to this article as well. Please also drop a note in the comments to this post about where you wrote your article. Let’s get the word out, and make a difference!