An atheist group is demanding that a Republican House lawmaker remove a Christian-themed flag that stands outside his Capitol Hill office.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation said it is “rebuking” Rep. Greg Steube of Florida for displaying the 126-year-old banner — a white field with a blue square and red cross in the upper left corner — outside his Rayburn House Office Building quarters.
The group says the flag makes non-Christians feel “unwelcome.”
“By placing this flag outside your office you are clearly signaling that Christians of a certain ilk are favored ‘insiders,’ and that non-Christians and nonbelievers are ‘outsiders,’” Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor, the group’s co-presidents, wrote in a letter to Mr. Steube.
Mr. Barker and Ms. Gaylor said the flag could make those “of all religious stripes” and nonbelievers feel uncomfortable as they seek constituent services from his office.
“There is no secular or legitimate political purpose to flying the flag in front of your congressional office,” they said. “This flag sends a totally inappropriate message, and for this reason alone it should be removed.”
A spokeswoman for Mr. Steube, serving his third term in the House, did not respond to a request for comment.
The pair also picked up on a social media post by the re-election campaign of Rep. Jared Huffman, California Democrat and leader of the House Freethought Caucus, who displayed a picture of the flag outside Mr. Steube’s office and wrote, “I haven’t seen one of these in the Capitol since it was used to bludgeon cops and smash windows in the January 6th insurrection. Starting to feel like old times…”
Mr. Huffman’s office referred a reporter’s comment request to the campaign, which did not respond.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Michigan Democrat and a Palestinian American, came under fire for displaying the Palestinian flag outside her office after Hamas militants’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, sparking a measure by Rep. Max Miller, Ohio Republican, to block the use of federal funds to buy any foreign flag and display it in Congress.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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