Christian Flag flying peacefully over Downtown Merced

The Christian Flag has been raised above Bob Hart Square in downtown Merced, alongside the U.S. Flag and the California Flag.

A flag-raising ceremony was held on Friday, April 4, and it was observed by members of about seven local church groups, elected leaders and law enforcement officials. A song of prayer was performed as the Christian Flag was raised upward against a clear blue sky.

“Today, the Christian Flag was raised in remembrance of the Resurrection as we enter into the Easter season,” stated a post on the Facebook page of the Merced County Republican Assembly. “We were blessed with a peaceful event free of opposition. This flag will be flying for the next 30 days on Main Street. We pray that people will see this flag and wonder what it represents and search for answers. Please pray that lives will be influenced during this time.”

The Merced City Council approved flying the Christian Flag at the site in early February as part of its “commemorative flag” policy on city property. The request was made by The Barn Church which stated: “We request that the Christian Flag be flown during the Easter season to commemorate the many followers of Christ who have gone before us and who continue to sacrificially serve here in our city — loving others because Christ first loved them.”

The city’s flag approval was not without dissent. Councilman Fue Xiong said he strongly opposes flying the flag “especially in the light of Trump’s reelection, and the fear from our community.”

“The Christian flag was flown during the January 6th insurrection,” Xiong told his colleagues before they voted on the issue. “It is a symbol used by white Christian nationalists and provides cover for white supremacy and racial subjugation with the call for an ethnostate.”

He added, “Flying this flag undermines the separation of church and state, and in my opinion, this decision is based at the discretion of council, and so I disagree with us going forward.”

New strategy implemented

Since 2021, a variety of approved commemorative flags have been flown in downtown Merced, including the Pride Flag, Mexican Flag, Italian Flag, Armed Forces Flag and the POW MIA Flag.

However, in recent weeks, city leaders have been debating how they approach choosing the flags, and even considering the elimination of flying any flag other than state, national and military flags.

For the past three years, the policy has been to allow residents to make requests via an online form, and then those requests, if basic guidelines were met, would go up for Council approval.

But in February, Councilman Shane Smith argued the practice — essentially making Bob Hart Square a public forum — was exposing the city to possible litigation. He pointed out that the Council would not be able to prevent any third party from flying a properly submitted commemorative flag, regardless of whether city leaders agreed with the viewpoint or not.

In a recent report, a Merced Focus journalist revealed that the city received an application on Feb. 18 to fly a flag in recognition of “Unveiling Day,” an official holiday of The Satanic Temple that is recognized annually by the group’s adherents on July 25. The application, however, was not turned in on time, according to city officials, and so it was denied. All of the flag requests approved by the city for 2025 were received before the end of January.

Later that same month, the city received a letter from an attorney representing the Freedom from Religion Foundation, asking the city to reconsider its approval of the Christian flag flying in Bob Hart Square.

Meanwhile, Councilman Smith submitted a revised flag policy that affirmed Council members – not the public – would be the ones that can request and approve the display of commemorative flags at city facilities. He argued the new strategy would turn the flag policy into “government speech” as opposed to “free speech” in a public forum.

This week, a slim majority of council members agreed with Smith and the Council voted 4-3 to revise the flag policy. Council members Xiong, Sarah Boyle and Darin DuPont voted NO. It should be noted that before the vote, Boyle and DuPont expressed views that the commemorative flag policy be eliminated completely.

Going forward, members of the public are free to ask the Council, or its individual members, to consider flying a particular flag. Nevertheless, it will be only individual council members who will be able to bring a request for Council consideration, and that will be once a year, in the month of October, for the following calendar year.