Walsh keeps church, state apart in flag flap
Mayor Martin J. Walsh said he’ll continue to block a Christian group from raising a religious flag at City Hall Plaza despite the threat of a lawsuit, citing separation of church and state — and saying he wouldn’t use the spot to support his own faith.
Christian group Camp Constitution has asked to raise its flag — which has a white background and a red cross framed by a blue square — on City Hall Plaza, but was denied by officials saying the city has a policy against flying nonsecular flags.
Attorneys for the group from Floridabased Liberty Counsel sent a letter to Walsh on Wednesday, arguing the rejection is unconstitutional and demanding a response by Sept. 27 or they “will take additional actions to prevent irreparable harm to the rights of our clients.”
Legal experts have said the city has strong justification to refuse Camp Constitution’s request. City Hall Plaza has three flagpoles, with two flying the American and Massachusetts state flags daily, and the third frequently used to show flags from other countries. It has also been used to show the rainbow LGBTQ flag.
At a ceremony yesterday honoring Mexico’s Independence Day, where the Mexican flag was raised on the third pole, Walsh said he was standing firm against allowing Camp Constitution to fly its flag.
“They’re not going to, it’s separation of church and state,” Walsh said. “We’re pretty clear on it, that’s the policy and it’s going to continue to be the policy.”
Camp Constitution founder Hal Shurtleff said his group’s mission is to “enhance understanding of our JudeoChristian moral heritage,” but Walsh said City Hall Plaza is not the place for that.
Shurtleff and his attorneys said he envisioned holding an event with local clergy to raise the Christian flag and discuss the city’s history as well as “our nation’s heritage.”
Walsh said that was not enough to sway him.
“I’m a Catholic and I’m proud of that, I don’t think you do that by putting a flag at City Hall Plaza,” Walsh said. “That’s not the way you do that.”
The Liberty Counsel this summer filed a motion for summary judgment in a Florida case where a Ten Commandments monument is located next to a county courthouse. An atheist group’s leader is suing the county to take it down.
The Liberty Counsel has been criticized as being an anti-gay group, which they’ve disputed.