There's an interesting twist to story about banning religious expression on certificates accompanying flags flown over the Capitol since Eugene Volokh commented on it here.
But if one does look at the Flag Office's document (which Mr. Riehl, to his credit, links to), one sees the whole rule: "political and/or religious expressions are not permitted on the flag certificate." The discrimination isn't against God -- it's against a wide range of ideological expression.
I take it that the Flag Office's worry is that if they didn't have such a limit, someone would put some incendiary political or religious message on the certificate, and then the Flag Office would be condemned for participating in the printing of such a message (presumably with a government seal, and apparently with the signature of the Architect of the Capitol).
Pelosi supports disallowing certain speech, including the word God. But it turns out the messages are first vetted by elected officials before they ever reach the Capitol Architect's office. Why not leave the decision-making in the hands of elected officials most accountable to the people for something they allow through, or choose to censor? As it is, it's hard enough to pin them down on anything, turning the decision over to a bureaucrat seems to be the less democratic option to me.
He said members of Congress vet the appropriateness of messages constituents request with the flags, and their discretion should be sufficient.
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