Midshipmen are again dipping the American flag before the altar cross at Sunday services at the Naval Academy chapel, restoring a tradition that supporters say shows reverence but that critics say violates the separation of church and state.
Chaplains at the academy suspended the practice in October after questions were raised by Vice Adm. Jeffrey L. Fowler, who became the superintendent in June. After some congregants and alumni criticized the move, academy officials relented - a move that one critic called "an amazing act of cowardice."
"The flag should not be dipped to any person or thing - that's federal law," said Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a watchdog group.
"You've completely undercut command, destroying morale," Weinstein said.
But an academy spokesman said the decision was made to honor a long-standing practice.
"In recognition of this long-standing tradition, we have decided to allow this practice to continue," wrote Cmdr. Ed Austin, an academy spokesman, in an e-mail.
The debate over the place of religion at the Annapolis military college is not new. The academy, for example, is the only U.S. military college that holds formal prayer at mandatory lunch for its more than 4,100 midshipmen - a rite that might date to its founding in 1845.
Even after the federal courts ruled in 2003 against mealtime prayer at the Virginia Military Institute, academy leaders have declined requests by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Maryland and the Anti-Defamation League to discontinue the nondenominational prayer before the mandatory daily lunch.
The flag issue came to light in October, four months after Fowler succeeded Vice Adm. Rodney P. Rempt as academy superintendent.
Fowler has not hesitated to make changes in Annapolis. In addition to ordering a review of the safety of the annual Herndon Monument Climb, he has emphasized the importance of preparing midshipmen for war. He reduced students' leisure time, required three hours of study nightly and attendance at 15 meals a week, and switched seniors' uniforms from blue to khaki.
'Local customs'
Navy officials said they do not know how the flag-dipping tradition began but say it has been conducted for at least 40 years.
"There are lots of local customs that grow up from different commands and different bases," said Capt. Gregory Caiazzo, a spokesman for the Navy chief of chaplains. He said the chief of chaplains took no stance on the issue, leaving the customs up to individual congregations.
Dedicated in 1908, the academy chapel, with its familiar green dome, is a main gathering place of academy life. Services are offered by various denominations, and the chapel plays hosts to weddings, funerals and other events.
At the 11 a.m., Protestant service, a midshipman carrying the American flag and one carrying the brigade flag walk to the altar, dip the flags slightly forward and then post them at the front of the church.
After witnessing the practice, Fowler called together academy chaplains and others to review the practice, Austin said.
"There was a concern over teaching midshipmen something not practiced anywhere in the Fleet," Austin wrote in an e-mail.
The chaplains suspended the practice so the issue could be reviewed, Austin said.
'One nation under God'
But the move infuriated some congregants.
"We all were dismayed. We didn't quite understand why this was occurring," said Bob Morrison, who has attended chapel services for 12 years and holds a post with the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group.
"It's a beautiful and symbolic gesture," he added. "Basically what we're saying is, we are one nation under God."
Morrison said he and other members sent letters to the superintendent imploring him to allow the tradition.
Eugene Fidell, a Washington-based military law expert who sits on the board that advises the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said he was "astounded" to hear of the tradition.
'The flag above all'
"Dipping quite clearly implies subordination," Fidell said. "It's like a junior saluting a senior."
He said the U.S. flag code states that the flag should not be dipped for any person or object.
"The flag," he said, "stands above all in official settings."
At least one person has not attended the 11 a.m. service since the tradition has resumed: Fowler.
His spokesman declined to say why the superintendent has stopped attending the service, saying it is a personal matter.
josh.mitchell@baltsun.com