As a result of Liberty Counsel’s January 2026 demand letter, the city of Jersey City has agreed to grant organizers of the Children of Faith Parade a permit to raise the Christian flag at city hall after the city initially denied the request.

Before the letter, parade organizers had consistently included a ceremonial raising of the Christian flag at city hall for their annual parade since 1979. However, in August 2025 the city unlawfully denied the permit citing violation of the Establishment Clause and that the decades-long practice of granting their permit was an “administrative error.” Now, the Jersey City officials have agreed to let organizers raise the Christian Flag on September 8, 2026, for their annual Children of Faith Parade.

In the letter, Liberty Counsel informed city officials about its unanimous 2022 victory in Shurtleff v. City of Boston, a case where Boston officials denied raising the Christian flag in an open forum. In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled cities that open their flagpoles to the public cannot selectively exclude religious viewpoints when they allow other private groups to speak. Liberty Counsel noted that Jersey City’s flag program had previously permitted other ideological and religious flags, including for the “Jersey City LGBTQ+ Pride Festival;” the “Independence Day of Pakistan Flag Raising Ceremony” for the Muslim Council North America and Muslim Federation of New Jersey; and the “3rd Annual Palestine Flag Raising Ceremony,” among others.

In Shurtleff, the High Court ruled 9-0 that raising the Christian flag under Boston’s public flag-raising program did not amount to government speech or violate the Establishment Clause since the city had opened its flagpole to private speech and was not selecting or communicating the message. Rather the High Court ruled, denying the Christian flag amounted to unequal treatment and was unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. 

Since Jersey City’s flag program is almost identical to Boston’s, Liberty Counsel had requested Jersey City approve the flag-raising permit for the 2026 parade to avoid the city violating the First Amendment.

Liberty Counsel’s Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “We commend Jersey City officials for making the right decision to grant the Christian flag-raising permit for the Children of Faith Parade. Jersey City had stated that raising the Christian flag in their public forum would violate the Establishment Clause, but it does not. The opposite is true. Denying raising the Christian flag in a public forum is the actual First Amendment violation. The clear message from the U.S. Supreme Court is that government cannot favor one viewpoint and censor another in a public forum. Municipalities like Jersey City can legally permit both secular and religious commemorative emblems when they open their flagpoles to public expression.”