Now, I am not a religious person... at all. That said, I think there is a line to be drawn between the public and the private regarding religious expression and government involvement in that expression. As many have stated before - and I agree, there is no reason for the government to have absolutely no involvement in religion. Religion is a part of the lives of most people in this country... we, supposedly, have a representative government... it would be unrealistic to expect there to be a complete separation between Church and State.

Allowing personal, individual religious expression in a personal message on a certificate intended for private use, in my opinion, doesn't violate the First Amendment. The government, in that case, is not establishing religion, it isn't sponsoring religion, it is merely allowing the personal, individual expression of religious belief... something protected by the First Amendment.

This is what the flag certificate looks like:

Example of a Flag Certificate

There is no official government seal... there is a logo for the Architect of the Capitol and the Architect of the Capitol's signature is included.

Now imagine the text of this certificate to read:

This is to certify that the accompanying flag was flown over
the United States Capitol on October 10, 2007, at the request
of Andrew Larochelle of Dayton, Ohio.

This flag was flown in honor of Marcel Larochelle, my grandfather,
for his dedication and love of God, country and family.

This clearly indicates that the flag was flown at the request of Andrew Larochelle... a private citizen. It clearly indicates that the flag was flown in honor of an individual and not in honor of God - and, again, the request was made by a private citizen. The government is not having the flag flown in honor of this individual, the private citizen is. The fact that the individual was religious is fine; this country is filled with religious people. There is nothing in the Constitution that states the government can't acknowledge the fact that people have religious beliefs. There is no establishment here. When this flag was flown, nobody apart from the Architect's office, Rep. Turner, and Andrew Larochelle's family would have known about the religious statement. No other individual's right to freedom of religion would have been infringed upon by allowing this statement on the certificate. It, therefore, does not violate the First Amendment.

If the government included the word God on all certificates, then there would be a question regarding a violation of the First Amendment. But that isn't the case.

To censor this statement is, however, an infringement of the freedom of expression.