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.
