Flag at half-mast for Pope?

[Flying Mullet]

Sorry that this is a tad old but I'm just getting back into the swing of things after vacation.

For those of you not aware, Every public building in the US is currently required to lower all american flags to half-mast to honor Pope John Paul II. This angers me a great deal. Lowering the flag at half mast has always been an honor reserved for great american leaders (I know that great is debateable as people debate whether previous presidents like Reagan were great), such as previous presidents and national tragedies. Now we are lowering the flag to half-mast for the leader of a religion? I though the U.S. government has a seperation of church and state? It really angers me that we are lowering the flag to half-mast because it appears that Bush is playing religion again and showing how religious he is, just like he did during the last elections, for his own personal gain and popularity.

Thoughts?

[DocFrance]

I don't agree with it because the Pope was not an American citizen. It could be argued that he was a man of the peace, and he did great things for humanity, but the fact remains that the flag is only lowered to half mast to recognize the passing of great Americans.

[Flying Mullet]

Yes, the fact that he is/was not a U.S. citizen also bothers me.

[Cuchulainn]

Why on earth does it anger you? It's hardly a big deal, they honored a great religious leader....I fail to see why that would anger someone. Who cares if he wasn't American, why do you only want to honour Americans in that way? Sounds Xenophobic to me.
They flew the flags at half mast for a day, I'm sure, somehow, the American people will get over it eventually. Seriously, check the news now & then, there are thousands of reason above that one to get angered right now.

[Flying Mullet]

It angers me because it is one of 1000 ways that Bush is trying to put religion (namely Christianity) into our governemnt.

And I didn't say that this is the only thing that angers me, or angers me the most. Yes, there are thousands of other things in this world to get angry about, but this thread is about the flag at half mast, not about the thousands of things in this world that make me angry. That's why we have EoEO for different threads on the subjects.

[krissy]

I'd think a pope is more of a citizen of the world at large anyway.

The Vatican wasn't supportive of plenty of things the Bush administration was involved in. Is it actually Bush who signs a paper every time the flag is lowered? I got no idea and I'm not going to look for the answer to that because frankly, respect for the dead is respect for the dead.

When Bush dies and the flag goes to half-mast, will you be opposed to that?

[udsuna]

Eh, seriously, it doesn't matter. We've flown half mast for non Americans before, we'll do it again. One of these days, the flag will be flown at half for that Mr. Bush... hopefully, ASAP. The Pope was a great human being. He did more good for people than almost any individual that was ever honored by flying the flag at half. He DESERVED the honor, he spent a lifetime dedicated to the helping of others... as far as I'm concerned, he's an honorary (post-humous) American citizen.

Oh, and so you don't get the idea that religion is influencing my opinion, I worship a Goddess.

[Flying Mullet]

When Bush dies and the flag goes to half-mast, will you be opposed to that?

Will I not like it? Yeah, because I'm not a big fan of Bush. But will I oppose it? No, because we always lower our flags to half-mast for presidents.

[Endless]

Technically, the Pope is the leader of the Vatican as a country, so the half mast is honouring another country's leader's death. Sure, not all leader get the honor, but then, not every leader is influential over a billion people. The same debate arose in France about it, and we did it for some Popes before, and not for others, and the debate lasted a good two days and stopped when politicians realized most people didn't care.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

I really don't mind if the Pope gets to be in our super-exclusive flag-descending club.

[Raistlin]

First off, the "seperation of church and state" is a myth, and this does not violate any religion clause in the constitution.

However, I still don't like it, because lowering the flags has been a tradition upon the deaths of American leaders.

[The Captain]

Flag lowering, more than anything else has been a tradition, not reserved just for Americans, but for people in general who did deeds that were deemed positive for America and the world at large in some way, OR if they were great American citizens. The flag has been lowered for the passing Winston Churchill, Gandhi, and John Lennon among other non American citizens.

Though I share your opinion that the seperation between Church and State is all but gone, I view this more of a sign of respect for a figure, not as a religious gesture.

Take care all.

[Shoden]

America is a catholic country well at least thats what i was told
the Pope did alot of great things and showed his reaons for oppinions the guy went all over the world got shot lived and forgave the guy who shot him he was a great man american or not he deserves it sadly only UK Catholic schools do the half mast or something

im an agnoscist protestant with slightly aphiest views so my oppinion doesnt matter does it?

[Raistlin]

America is a catholic country well at least thats what i was told

...who told you such an outrageous lie?

Flag lowering, more than anything else has been a tradition, not reserved just for Americans, but for people in general who did deeds that were deemed positive for America and the world at large in some way, OR if they were great American citizens. The flag has been lowered for the passing Winston Churchill, Gandhi, and John Lennon among other non American citizens.

Though I share your opinion that the seperation between Church and State is all but gone, I view this more of a sign of respect for a figure, not as a religious gesture.

I agree with all of that...I wasn't aware that the flag was also lowered for Churchill and Gandhi and them.

[Shoden]

couple of online canadian friends and my friend