diff --git a/openid-connect-common/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/config/ConfigurationPropertiesBean.java b/openid-connect-common/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/config/ConfigurationPropertiesBean.java
index 8e643cc87..fd49e72ef 100644
--- a/openid-connect-common/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/config/ConfigurationPropertiesBean.java
+++ b/openid-connect-common/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/config/ConfigurationPropertiesBean.java
@@ -50,9 +50,9 @@ public class ConfigurationPropertiesBean {
 
 	private Long regTokenLifeTime;
 
-	private boolean forceHttps = false;
+	private boolean forceHttps = false; // by default we just log a warning for HTTPS deployment
 
-	private Locale locale = Locale.getDefault();
+	private Locale locale = Locale.ENGLISH; // we default to the english translation
 
 	public ConfigurationPropertiesBean() {
 
diff --git a/openid-connect-server-webapp/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/tags/header.tag b/openid-connect-server-webapp/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/tags/header.tag
index 4f6606224..e43a7c78c 100644
--- a/openid-connect-server-webapp/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/tags/header.tag
+++ b/openid-connect-server-webapp/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/tags/header.tag
@@ -39,10 +39,10 @@
     <script type="text/javascript">
         $.i18n.init({
             fallbackLng: "en",
-            lng: "${pageContext.response.locale}",
+            lng: "${config.locale}",
             resGetPath: "resources/js/locale/__lng__/messages.json"
         });
-        moment.locale("${pageContext.response.locale}");
+        moment.locale("${config.locale}");
     	// safely set the title of the application
     	function setPageTitle(title) {
     		document.title = "${config.topbarTitle} - " + title;