William Slavick writes from Maine in support of Stephen Kobasa:

Dear Ms. Dames and Mrs. Jakab:

I am appalled at the firing of Stephen Kobasa for not mounting a US
flag in his classroom. And I am amazed that you would make yourselves
the object of scorn and humiliation by such a stupid and arbitrary
gesture.

First, I understand that you act on an instant, unwritten, unapproved
policy. As a lifelong academic who fought far more than his share of
battles with arrogant administrators and the wife of a former Portland
Schools union president, you put yourselves in a no-win situation if
Mr. Kobasa chooses to sue, which I hope he does.

Second, while I understand that there is not, as I had believed there
was, no church policy about displaying a US flag in the church
sanctuary, it has long been the practice in almost all churches of not
displaying the flag there. Why? Because the Church is universal; it
welcomes all Christians everywhere, and is not identified with a
nation or its policies and actions. To display a national flag in the
sanctuary is to affront a Haitian, a Nicaraguan, an El Salvadoran, a
Guatemalan, a Vietnamese, an Iraqi, an Afghan, as well as the majority
of Americans who today find the flag identified with what John Paul
II, the US Bishops, and virtually all religious leaders and the world
community have judged to be an immoral and illegal war that has taken
untold Iraqi lives, maimed untold numbers, and virtually destroyed the
country. Likewise, a Catholic school should be welcoming to all,
teaching students to rise above individualism and nationalism and
chauvinism and exceptionalism (we are above all of the rules we expect
others to live by because we are chosen to rule the world), which, at
this moment in history, displaying the American flag argues against.

Third, the Second Vatican Council espouses freedom of conscience.
Students should not be obliged to take the pledge of allegiance if it
affronts their consciences; neither should a teacher be obliged to say
the pledge, to fly the flag, to sing that warrior national anthem, any
more than he should be obliged to approve of the government's policies
or conduct.

Fourth, the flag has become a pagan idol in American society, treated
with the kind of reverence Catholics normally reserve for the
Eucharist. I travel considerably and nowhere does one see a people so
enamored of their national flag as to display it anywhere except at
some special event where a lot of banners are flown to give the
occasion a festive air. They see the 40 flags atop a Cumberland
Farms gas station as little short of obscene.

I could go on but have an appointment to make. I will advise Mr.
Kobasa to fight you all the way.