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A group of students at Seattle Pacific University (SPU) were told that they could not present the colors or recite the Pledge of Allegiance at a Veterans Day ceremony to honor veterans.

iRumorMill.com Determination: Real

According to a November 5, 2015 article by the Seattle Fox Affiliate, the “Students for Military Veterans Support” club desired to include the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance during the presentation of colors during a Veterans Day ceremony in the SPU chapel but were told by officials that they could not. Fox news reported, a group of students, who were not willing to come forward, balked that their chapel was not the proper place for a military ceremony.

Students for Military Veterans Support club member Daniel Fenlason commented to reporter, “We should be able to pledge allegiance to the flag inside of our own church, in our own house of worship [for] the same people who died for that same right.”

SPU responded to press inquiries with this statement: “The organizers decided not to include the pledge of allegiance and the presentation of colors during the November 10 chapel, given that there are diversity of views on campus whether such elements should be part of a Christian worship service. “

Many wonder if the protesting students had ever stepped into a church or campus chapel where the Flag of the United States of America is proudly and properly displayed.

University Chaplain Bo Lim stated that he had originally planned to include "the pledge and the presentation of colors – but reversed his decision over concerns from a handful of students and faculty."

Fox News obtained an email sent by Lim that was reported by The College Fix, “If the purpose of the service was in part, an opportunity for the entire SPU community to grow in solidarity and support for our military community, I believe including the pledge and flag would work counter to that.”

A large number of the faculty come from Anabaptist traditions according to Chaplain Lim, who said, “This Christian tradition is pacifist, and would object to Christians serving in the military, holding military Christian services, and having military or political symbols in church sanctuaries.”

Lim stated "in a lengthy letter than he would rather have people focused on supporting the veterans rather than whether or not there was a flag present in the chapel."  “Perhaps some of you have come from communities where there wasn’t a diversity of views on Christians serving in the military, the flag or the pledge,” Lim wrote. He added, “But such is not SPU.”

Posted 11/11/15

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