Should Longview church remove swastika floor tiles?
(AP) — When R.A. Long established Longview Community Church in the 1920s, he wanted it to be a truly community church, welcoming people from all Christian traditions.
When visitors step in, though, they encounter a symbol that people now associate with terror, though it once was a revered sign for several faiths.
About 60 floor tiles emblazoned with swastika-style crosses are interspersed with the red tiles in the church's narthex, or entrance.
The debate is similar to many raging around the world in cases where modern sentiments of political correctness clash with monuments to discredited or now-reviled people or causes.
In southern states, for example, people are demanding removal of statues of Confederate heroes.
Nowadays, contemporary service includes music with drums and keyboards, but the instruments are stored under blankets to remain inconspicuous.
Hitler appropriated the symbol and inverted it so that the bent s'' structures face a reverse direction from the Christian fylfot cross.