Religious request raises red flag on Hill

By Johanna Neuman
Los Angeles Times

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WASHINGTON — The latest controversy over the separation of church and state began innocently enough. In August, Andrew Larochelle, 17, wrote his congressman requesting a flag be flown over the U.S. Capitol to honor his grandfather and his "love of God, country and family."

But the Capitol architect, whose employees run the Stars and Stripes up and down three flagpoles hundreds of times each day, balked at the religious dedication. His decision has provoked a hot debate over the place of religion in U.S. political institutions, becoming the most recent touchstone in the nation's culture wars.

Larochelle's request was one of more than 100,000 that flood Congress each year from constituents. Members of Congress often include a sample request letter on their Web sites because the flags are so popular.

When Stephen Ayers, the acting architect, received the request to honor Marcel Larochelle, an Army veteran, "and his dedication and love of God, country and family," he declined to provide the dedication.

Ayers cited the rules issued by the Architect of the Capitol's office for ordering flags, which includes this stipulation: "Personalized dedications are permitted but ... political and/or religious expressions are not permitted on the flag certificate."

When the Larochelles received the flag certificate, it contained no mention of God. It only indicated the date and time it had flown over the Capitol.

Paul Larochelle, Andrew's father and a Roman Catholic, called his congressman's office. "I thought it was a typographical error," said the elder Larochelle, a computer-program manager in Dayton, Ohio.

Notified of the "error," Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, issued a certificate of his own, with the requested language.

Then, a week ago, he wrote a "Dear Colleague" letter criticizing the architect for putting "at risk our religious freedoms and heritage" and requesting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., overturn the decision.

Since then, more than 160 members of Congress signed on, including five Democrats. Cable-television shows went on the offensive, as members of Congress leaped on the issue as the latest example of political correctness stripping God from U.S. institutions.

"This is a case of political correctness run amok," wrote Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas. "The government is not imposing 'God' on flag certificates. Rather, it is the request of the taxpayer who wants to mark a special occasion with the honor of a flag flown over the world's symbol of democracy."

Andrew Larochelle has been overwhelmed with media requests, his father said. "He's getting a lesson not only in our country's politics but in our country's media," he said.



Pelosi weighed in this week, noting Congress, which begins its day with a prayer and meets in a chamber with the word "God " engraved overhead, is not against religion.

"People were asking for statements that not only were religious, beyond using the word God, but political as well," she said. "It's not about being anti-religion; it is just about what the architect thought was appropriate for him to proclaim in a certificate."

Pelosi appears likely to propose the architect merely issue a statement of the time and date that the flag flew, leaving it to members of Congress to issue detailed certificates.

It's not clear that will quiet the controversy that Turner spokesman Andy Bloom described as "a brush fire that became a forest fire."

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