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Forcing the Flag

By Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive. Posted October 19, 2005.


Stephen Kobasa taught Catholic school for 25 years. Then he tried to remove the American flag from his classroom.

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Stephen Kobasa has been a Catholic schoolteacher for 25 years. For the last six years, he has taught English at Kolbe Cathedral High School in Bridgeport, CT.

He no longer teaches there.

Here's why.

Kobasa does not believe there should be an American flag in his classroom.

"Everything in the Gospel rejects what flags stand for: boundaries, hatreds, creation of enemies," Kobasa says. "For a Catholic Christian school that holds up the crucifix as a symbol of God's love, the flag can only be a contradiction. The Church can only function with its prophetic voice by standing outside the state."

For the past six years, whenever he found an American flag in his classroom he removed it, he says.

That never caused a problem until this semester, he adds. At a faculty meeting in August, he says, a new policy came down from the board of education at the Bridgeport diocese: The school day would begin with a prayer and a pledge of allegiance.

Kobasa, who is part of the extended community of the Hartford Catholic Worker and Jonah House in Baltimore, knew he would have trouble abiding by that. He hoped to negotiate some compromise.

"I met with the principal, and she said she was aware that I had not been doing the pledge, but that now there would be a problem because it was the policy," he recalls.

"So what I offered was an arrangement by which any students who wanted to make this oath of fealty could do so with a flag that they could have available. But only for the duration of the pledge itself, and then the flag would once again be removed."

The principal, Jo-Anne Jakab, went along, he says.

"She agreed to that," he says. "So I thought that was the end of it."

It wasn't.

"Ten days later, I was called down to her office, at which point she announces that this compromise, which she thought would be acceptable, is not," he recalls. The superintendent of schools, Dr. Margaret Dames, warned that "if I refused to accept the policy, that would be taken as an indication that I no longer wished to work for that school system."

Later, Kobasa asked to meet with the superintendent in her office.

He wished to explain that his action "was a longstanding, faith-based commitment and not a whim of mine or some excuse to be defiant," he says.

On September 30th, he met with Dr. Dames in her office. He says he was given "an edict: My obedience was expected."

Principal Jakab was at the meeting, as well, and, according to Kobasa, she said that "the following Monday there would be a flag in my room and I was expected to leave it there."

Kobasa said he decided to accept the decision "under protest and under duress," and he filed a grievance with his association of schoolteachers.

In his classroom, he attached two quotations to the flagpole.

One was from Paul's Letter to the Galatians: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

The other was from Father Thomas Merton: "We must remember that the Church does not belong to any political power bloc."

When Kobasa's teachers' association refused to back him up, however, he realized that his days as at Kolbe Cathedral High may be numbered.

So Kobasa wrote a letter to the head of the diocese, Bishop William Lori.

"Your Excellency: It is with both sorrow and dismay that I write you concerning the issues raised below, but I am convinced that it is my obligation to pursue every possible means of resolving this dispute in a spirit of Christian charity rather than confrontation," the letter began.


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Matthew Rothschild is the editor of The Progressive.

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Not a new estory
Posted by: jazzyjer on Oct 19, 2005 4:21 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This is a (pardon the expression) textbook example of how establishment Christianity has corrupted itself by alliances with secular power. After all, it got its initial boost toward dominance only through a Roman emperor. If American Catholics are taught they must be "good" Americans, and Italians "good" Italians, and Brazilians... etc., etc., how in the world does that constitute spreading the core message of Jesus? The Roman Catholic Church has been corrupt since the day it was conceived and never more so than today.

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» RE: Not a new estory Posted by: Xynyx
» RE:human Posted by: montana freeman
» human Posted by: montana freeman
No Idols
Posted by: menckenman on Oct 19, 2005 4:32 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
So you've proved once again that idolatry and superstition are well-entrenched in Christian classrooms. If you're going to worship the cross, you might as well salute the flag.

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» RE: No Idols Posted by: Jim
» I was wondering Posted by: gpm
» RE: I was wondering Posted by: namaste
» Ignorance instead Posted by: eastcoker
» RE: Ignorance instead Posted by: MT512
» Creative thought! Posted by: eastcoker
» RE: Creative thought! Posted by: MT512
Caesar's Flag
Posted by: Saitia on Oct 19, 2005 5:54 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Jesus said, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and
render to God the things that are God's."
Put another way: Render to the Caesars the things which are material and to God those which are spiritual. For all his commitment to spiritual matters, this fellow doesn't understand the simple wisdom of Jesus.

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» RE: Caesar's Flag Posted by: Jim
» RE: Caesar's Flag Posted by: Doubtom
» RE: Caesar's Flag Posted by: Doubtom
» RE: Caesar's Flag Posted by: Xynyx
» He doesn't understand ... Posted by: AdamSelene11726
» RE: Caesar's Flag Posted by: mejsmith
agitator church and state
Posted by: eileenflmng on Oct 19, 2005 5:55 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"If enough Christians followed the gospel, They could bring any state to it's knees"- Father Francis P. Berrigan circa 1968 regarding Vietnam War.

What we have in the USA is lots of religion-which provides rules, dogma, doctrine.

What we are starving for is SPIRITUALITY: which connects us to God above us, within us and within all others and all creation.

William Blake penned: "There will be no true Christianity while we still have churches."

"Imagine no religion" but a sisterhood of man.

WAWA
www.wearewideawake.org

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» RE: agitator church and state Posted by: ShaSpirit
the classroom flag
Posted by: davy on Oct 19, 2005 6:10 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Massive respect to a man of true conviction. Not many would have had the courage. Speaking as one who has been a public school teacher I've ofter wondered why the very best teachers seem to leave first. I guess in a country where 50% of taxes goes to war and defense and 5% on education it's no wonder. Keep em dumb or you won't be able to control them.

Davy Jones X pat highlands of Scotland

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» RE: the classroom flag Posted by: nagyfan3
Find another job
Posted by: bookwoman on Oct 19, 2005 7:38 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I'm sorry, but I believe the school day should start with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance to a flag which is hanging in the school room at all times. That's what makes me a moderate instead of a liberal.

If this gentleman didn't like the rules, he should have looked for another job. Instead, he took the lazy way out and removed the flag. Did he really think he was going to win? Instead he showed the kids that it is all right to disobey the law as if kids don't see enough of that already these days.

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» RE: Find another job Posted by: BuckFush
» RE: Find another job Posted by: cstriker
» RE: Find another job Posted by: BuckFush
» RE: Find another job Posted by: ShaSpirit
» RE: Find another job Posted by: Habaro
» RE: Find another job Posted by: Doubtom
» RE: Find another job Posted by: Xynyx
» What a crock... Posted by: gp
» RE: What a crock... Posted by: Doubtom
One Love
Posted by: BuckFush on Oct 19, 2005 7:47 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Michael Franti says it best...
"Please tell me the reason, behind the colors that you fly. Love just one nation and the whole world we divide."

You gotta sit back and chuckle a little bit when Catholics begin behaving like Evangelists. Which begs the question, how long till we see some prominent evagelicals under scrutiny for covering up pedophiles?

When will the cretins in power realize that they risk their own faith by purposely blurring the line between that which is secular, and that which is sacred?

"We can bomb the world to pieces, but we can't bomb it into peace."

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» RE: One Love Posted by: MT512
» RE: One Love Posted by: BuckFush
Troubling
Posted by: porgygirl on Oct 19, 2005 7:55 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Interesting story! I'm impressed by the teacher's commitment to principle... but the "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's" line does seem to offer him a way to adhere to Christ's teaching and still keep his job, just by making the distinction between sacred and secular authority (instead of utterly dismissing a symbol of the latter from the classroom).

What disturbs me, though, is that the flag and the Pledge should be so rigidly required as to cost somebody his job for refusing. Doesn't it smack of totalitarianism just a bit, to insist that students and teachers salute a flag and proclaim (falsely, I mourn) that it offers "liberty and justice for all"? What exactly is the principle here?

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» RE: Troubling Posted by: Colin
Question
Posted by: bgroat on Oct 19, 2005 8:55 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"Everything in the Gospel rejects what flags stand for: boundaries, hatreds, creation of enemies," Kobasa says.

Um...so what, precisely, does the crucifix do? Doesn't that serve to create boundaries between faiths, stir up religious divisions and hatreds, and create faith-based enemies?

If it's not a flag, it'll be something else. We seem to like our boundaries defined so we can have a clearer object of derision. Otherwise, we couldn't convince ourselves that we were superior to everyone else. What a tragedy that would be.

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Heroic man
Posted by: eastcoker on Oct 19, 2005 8:57 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Wow, what a timely church. As I am starting to deal with my own experience of the violation between church and state in my former church, I was quite heartened by this article. Thank you Alternet.

I have never liked reciting the pledge of allegiance, I have always balked at it. In fact I may have first gotten in trouble for being unwilling to recite it in 4th grade. By the time I was 8, I already decided I was not a patriot!

I hope this teacher made a deep impression on those kids. It sounds like he did. I am really inspired by his heroism. He is a man of priniciple. It is good to hear about men of principle.

And thank you for the rights and liberties section, it is excellent. I have stirred up a big discussion between the evangelical and the orthodox regarding civil liberties and I thank this special coverage area of alternet for giving me the strength to do so. I am finding I am not alone in supporting civil liberties as a christian liberal, but we are the minority.

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» RE: Heroic man Posted by: Farmertim
» props to your daughter Posted by: eastcoker
Timely article
Posted by: eastcoker on Oct 19, 2005 8:58 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I meant. But this man, he is part of the church militant...There is the church on the earth and the church in heaven, and this man is a strong member of the church on earth!

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pzzp
Posted by: pzzp on Oct 19, 2005 9:24 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"Everything in the Gospel rejects what flags stand for: boundaries, hatreds, creation of enemies"

Historically, just as much, if not more, "boundaries, hatreds, and creation of enemies" has been engaged in in the name of the Gospel as in the name of patriotism. Both the flag and the Gospel should get the heave-ho.

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» RE: pzzp Posted by: cstriker
» RE: pzzp Posted by: Doubtom
Jean Westland's comment
Posted by: saywhat on Oct 19, 2005 12:10 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I admire the school teacher in a Catholic school, who was true to his spiritual principles and took down the American flag.
The dictatorial rule given to him that he had to have the flag in the school room is certainly what he should have expected. I admire his spirituality and the sincere spiritually of most Catholics, but they miss what is really happening. Most Catholics, and I’ve known many, have told me that Jesus wasn’t Jewish. This is usually from persons who have attended Catholic school; including my son-in-law who went to Catholic school for eight years. I try to explain that Jesus could not’ be the Messiah as they claim, with out being Jewish, having a Jewish mother, and being from the House of David. It falls on deaf ears.
Has this teacher ever considered that flag and state are part of the Catholic religion, and that the religion he belongs to is Fascist?

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» RE: Jean Westland's comment Posted by: porgygirl
Grow Up America
Posted by: navistic50 on Oct 19, 2005 3:14 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
After reading the many blogs on this article, one conclusion is clear.. that is the fact that American citizens are carrying so much hostility these days for either church or state that we are constantly attacking each other.. which is a supurb way of introducing "Smoke and Mirrors". I applaud the man for his decision to stick by his personal ethics, regardless of religion or country. This is a quality that is sadly lacking in America today.

Too many people are held hostage in this country by either one type or the other belief system. I saw totalitarism mentioned in one blog..how true. America has become so insecure that it does not allow free expression any more.. although it may appear that way, in truth, to speak the truth is to invite a myriad of retaliation in one form or the other.

America is disintergrating from the inside out, and all that most of us do is make our already insurmountable problems worse by attacking the messenger. The biggest thing missing in America today is backbone and brains. Think for yourself to help the community, for we are all we have. It is quite evident that church and state are batting zero these days.

It appears to me that "We the People", aren't doing to well these days. Our resources are being outsourced, corporations and their management styles are destroying American workers and consumerism runs rampant. What's going to happen to the American citizen when there is nothing left to consume in America? The end of this train ride is going to be disasterous.

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» RE: Grow Up America Posted by: MT512
Learning from Evangelicals
Posted by: Danielhh on Oct 19, 2005 3:37 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Recently the catholic church has done quite a bit of messing around in state affairs. You probably know that catholic bishops in America are refusing communion to politicians who are pro-abortion, but it has also recently become true in Canada as our Prime Minister is Catholic and he has been threatened with the same thing.

As the Catholic Church becomes more vocal on the political scene and when a minor issue like a flag in the classroom becomes a issue over which you can be fired, it makes you wonder how organised these decisions are and from how far up in the church. Even the Bishop had nothing to say...

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I used to live in the states
Posted by: lawry on Oct 19, 2005 11:26 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
and i was baptised a catholic
but some things one has to give away.
It amazes me that the monkey debate can resurface as creative design or the flag debate which i thought was resolved at Kent State[in the late 60's] but no; life is a movie which endleslly has to be recycled until perhaps...........

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mary
Posted by: fuzypupy on Oct 20, 2005 7:43 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
i was raised catholic , i was forced to go to church and bible school as a child as soon as i was a legal adult i rebelled but what i was taught stuck with me, thou shall put no gods before me , ment to me you dont worship anything or anyone but god, i believe that still, i did not have crushes on donny osmond or micheal jackson like my friends did that would be wrong. i also was saying and believing the pledge of alligence to the flag in public school five days a week and that brain washing stuck too. so i respect both but also i was taught in public school that our fore fathers died so no one can force us to do or say anything we don't want to believe .. NOW THATS A FREE COUNTRY. i love my country and my flag is only a symbol of my country and thats all it is. i admire the teachers conviction and am appalled by the church forces the flag in front of his spiritual convictions. does that make any sense?

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» RE: mary Posted by: Doubtom
human
Posted by: montana freeman on Oct 20, 2005 6:37 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
to hell with the church and to hell with the state

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The American Flag
Posted by: Blaugaia on Oct 21, 2005 7:39 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
There are things I admire about Mr. Kobasa's actions, and others I find "childlish" but he is American. Americans in general are like that, I think. They love the hero in the movie, but fail to learn from his weakness. Yes, Mr. Kobasa is to be praised on his integrity, yet he should have a more mature faith as to know that his presence in the school was more important for his students than to become a "martyr". Of course martyrs are admirable people, but a real martyr is one who really didn't have a choice. The quotations he attached to the falgpole are brilliant. He had the opportunity to teach his students every day what the true core of Christianity is: Love your brother as you love yourself. We are all brothers and sisters, there is no "ONE Nation under God" We all (even those of us who are not Americans.. although I am American, I was born in the American continent, America is not AMERICA..that only adds to a certain feeling of superiority people in this country have about being born here, instead of their true value as a person of integrity).. sorry for the digression... We all are his children, we all are under God. Mr. Kobasa lost the chance to be a witness to his faith and open the minds of the future students of his class. So sad is this. I wish you the best Mr. Kobasa, I hope you will find another place to share your thoughts and integrity, and please don't let the "system", the Caesars of this country push you out of the way. Stay there and speak up! That's what Jesus did.

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Ian
Posted by: Ian on Oct 26, 2005 11:11 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
There are a number of points here.
Firstly, he stood up for his heartfelt belief, and was prepared to suffer for it. In a world where so many spout self serving platitudes under the silky cloud of mock sincerity that's a refreshing change. A belief's not worth having unless it costs you something, isn't that true?
Secondly, it reminded me of Captain Black from Catch 22 and the "Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade". Heller was satarising just this sort of pointless meaningless ritual. It was used as a system of self advancement and control by Captain Black, because of course everybody who protested was by definition disloyal. I'm surprised your President hasn't read the book(or am I being optomistic?).
Thirdly,(and more mischievously) I bet if he'd been from a racial minority, especially a religious racial minority, and had protested, the sly companions of Major Black would have shown their true commitment and backed down immediately, whilst muttering references to a tolerance they neither feel nor possess.

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