KING, N.C., Nov. 2 (UPI) -- A Christian flag's removal from a veterans memorial in King, N.C., became a First Amendment controversy that went before the city council, officials said.
The King City Council voted 4-0 Monday to approve a policy that eventually would allow a Christian flag to fly again at the veterans memorial in the city's Central Park as part of a limited public display permitting religious flags recognized by the U.S. armed forces, the Winston-Salem Journal reported.
Some people present at the council meeting said city officials should have immediately returned the flag to the memorial, the Journal reported.
"It's a shame and a disgrace. It's an attack upon Christianity, and it has to stop," said Kevin Winemiller of Winston-Salem, a chaplain with the Army Nation Guard.
King officials said they intend to spend two months working out the details of the policy with their attorneys, and that the flag will not fly again until the new rules are completed.
The dispute began this summer when a King military veteran complained about the flag being flown at the memorial. The council and the city attorney were sent letters from the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina and the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, asking the council to take down the flag because it violated the First Amendment.
The council voted 3-1 on Sept. 15 to bring down the flag, on the advice of the city's lawyer, the Journal reported.
More than 5,000 people marched in King on Oct. 23, asking the council to restore the Christian flag. Only a few King residents publicly supported the council's decision to take down the flag, the Journal said.
