Our Flag Is Not Sacred

The recent Supreme Court ruling that protects flag burning as a form of free speech touched off an early-summer display of patriotic fireworks. Politicians, led by President Bush, lined up to blast the Court’s action as sacrilege and called for a constitutional amendment prohibiting the desecration of the flag.

I just hope the church doesn’t fall in line behind them.

By saying this, I do not intend to express any un-American sentiments. I simply believe that what Americans do with the flag has more to do with the state than it does with the church.

Making this distinction between the nation and the Christian community has always been a difficult one for American believers. We all grew up studying the courageous efforts of the Pilgrims who braved great dangers to come to this land to practice their faith without interference. They saw themselves as a “city set on a hill.” But they also blurred the line separating church and nation, a perspective for the most part maintained by the American church ever since.

My own experience as a boy reflects this. Like many American Christians, I grew up in a church that displayed both a Christian flag and an American flag near the altar. And during Sunday-school opening exercises, we all stood up to pledge allegiance to the U.S. flag, the Christian flag, and the Bible. Consequently, the line between our twin loyalties to church and state, the boundary between the kingdom of Christ and at least one nation of this world, never seemed very clear.

This was not the case for those who first pledged their allegiance to Christ and to his kingdom. To confess “Jesus is Lord,” as the early church did, was to risk the wrath of Rome, whose subjects were called to swear their loyalty to empire and emperor by declaring, “Caesar is Lord.” Certain things could be rendered to Caesar, such as taxes and obedience to temporal laws, but the expression of supreme loyalty and devotion was due no one but Christ.

That is at the heart of what troubles me about the debate generated by the Court’s ruling on the flag. The language central to the arguments on both sides of the issue is the language of supreme devotion and loyalty. It is not going too far to call it religious language. Justice Brennan’s opinion, siding with the majority, stated, “We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in so doing we dilute the freedom that this cherished emblem represents.” In rebutting that view, President Bush has stated vociferously that the American flag is too “sacred” a symbol to be desecrated, even in an act of protest. This motivated his flag-protecting amendment to the Constitution.

But the flag of the United States of America is not sacred. Nor is the republic for which it stands. The flag is not the cross, nor is it the Bible, nor does it symbolize in any way those things that ought to call forth our deepest expressions of devotion or commitment. For no nation of this world—not even this great nation—embodies the kingdom of God. Those who pledge allegiance to that kingdom and to its sovereign Lord ought to be wary of compromising or diluting that supreme commitment.

This is not a call to abandon patriotism. I am not advocating flag burning. I find that particular expression of dissent repugnant. Furthermore, I am grateful to live and participate in this great experiment of freedom and democracy. I do not want to live in any other nation on earth.

But this is a call to caution. Christians have pledged first and eternal allegiance to the kingdom of the Lord Christ, so we must show care in the words we use. In our love for our nation and in our respect for its symbols we dare not call sacred or seek to consecrate by language or action things that are not sacred.

Rick McKinniss is pastor of Kensington Baptist Church in Kensington, Connecticut.

Speaking Out offers responsible Christians a forum for their views on contemporary issues. It does not necessarily reflect the views of CHRISTIANITY TODAY.

Simplistic?

Bruce Shelley’s call for quality in Christian labor [“Why Work,” July 14] is noteworthy but somewhat simplistic. Many dimensions of life and work compete, conflict, or are outside the bounds of individual influence. For high quality to be achieved in some areas, performance must be compromised elsewhere. A work ethic may result in perfectionism, workaholism, and worker exploitation if unbalanced by the knowledge that labor remains imperfect and is not the only form of worship favored by God.

Monty L. Lynn

Abilene Christian University

Abilene, Tex.

Shelley must have inadvertently left out one of the most important “workplaces” where “meaning of life” is taught firsthand by the mother and homemaker. What vocation could more “directly influence the thinking and viewpoint of society”?

Mrs. Carolyn Haege

Freeburg, Ill.

Faceless Statistics

Charles Colson’s “Save the Wails” column [July 14] really just underscores the saying that if one person is killed, it’s a tragedy; if a million people are killed, it’s a statistic.

We all know that endangered species are being slaughtered; we all know that children are dying in lonely misery. But when three whales are trapped in the ice, or a little girl is trapped at the bottom of a well, suddenly the statistics turn into individuals with the kind of response Colson comments on. Surely a basic effect of the grace of God in our lives is to move us beyond the all-are-equal principle, which no one really believes anyway, to the each-one-is-special principle, which most of us do believe about ourselves and other families. If we let him, the Holy Spirit will teach us to believe it about everyone.

Meanwhile, anything that puts a face on a statistic is a step in the right direction.

Rev. Oliver Stevens

Manitowaning, Ont., Canada

Colson’s attempt to make light of concerns regarding the welfare of farm animals is only understandable on the assumption that he is ignorant of the conditions under which these unfortunate creatures have come to be raised and slaughtered. The realities of “factory farming” are not those of “Old McDonald’s Farm.” Addressing this tragic situation with humorous stories about suicidal chickens and overwrought animal liberators makes no more sense than attempting to dismiss concern about the suffering of “caged people” with similar stories about the foibles and follies of prison inmates. The question is not whether we should care more or less about caged humans than caged animals; the issue is one of compassion for all who suffer.

We need less “showboating” and more persistent, well-conceived efforts to bring about that day when the entire creation will rejoice in the blessed reign of the Lord Jesus. Colson’s efforts to help a whole category of forgotten humans contribute much to that end; he deserves credit for not letting us rest easy when we might well have done so.

Richard L. Fern

Yale University

New Haven, Conn.

Resurrected For Judgment

Regarding your coverage of the debate about “annihilationism” at “Evangelical Affirmations 89” [News, June 16], Advent Christians do not believe “that unsaved souls will cease to exist after death.” Rather, we believe that the lost shall be resurrected for the final judgment, and shall then suffer consciously under the wrath of God to the degree that each deserves—leading to a literal destruction of body and soul.

Tom Warner

Ashland, Maine

A “Bravo!” And A Yawn

Bravo!—on the one hand—for John Akers’s column “The Battle for the Imagination” [June 16]. We need more calls for integrating “… creative men and women—the writers, the artists, the filmmakers—who will capture the imagination of our confused world in the name of Christ.”

Yawn!—on the other hand. The arts are mentioned a lot lately, which is nice, but where are those church and mission leaders who are writing budgets that include their strategic contribution, who are affirming with fervor Christian role models in the various artistic disciplines (and providing them a context where they can make a living while they role model)? Where are the Christian mission organizations that are aggressively seeking out Christian leadership out of a music/arts background for their strategy planning and working them into leadership of their ministry teams? Where are the Christian foundations and ministry organizations who are funding these “… writers, artists, filmmakers—who will capture the imagination of our confused world in the name of Christ”?

Bryon Spradlin

Artists in Christian Testimony

Cucamonga, Calif.

The creative men and women are in the church. Some express their art through music, the only art fully accepted by the church. But others sit quietly alone; waiting to be affirmed, encouraged, supported. They are waiting for the body of Christ to understand and find room for the novel, the film, the play, the masterpiece ruminating within that could reach beyond the subculture and challenge the basic assumptions of our secular age and point the world towards ultimate truth.

Until the church goes beyond just lip service to encourage and invest some of her resources, her members, and even her own children in the pursuit of redeeming art, I fear the body of Christ will be left with only the shrill, small voice of reaction to art instead of the clear, powerful voice of the creator of art.

Max McLean

Morristown, N.J.

More Than One Kind Of Abuse

Regarding James and Phyllis Alsdurf’s “Battered into Submission” [June 16], there are several kinds of abuse practiced by both husbands and wives. Physical abuse is perhaps the most easily seen and reported. The subtle, sneaky, sly abuses of emotional and psychological nature are harder to recognize and deal with. Public ridicule relating half-truths with threats of mental instability, withholding of financial truths, brainwashing children to his or her advantage—the list goes on and on.

The abuse can be learned as far back as watching grandparents. Thanks for the article.

Dorothy M. Applegate

Chapel Hill, N.C.

I was troubled that the article should refer to the chronic, practicing wife-batterer as a Christian. A Christian combines two things: A set of basic Christian beliefs, and the moral life suited to them. The two by the Spirit are organically inseparable. A person is not a Christian if he has either one without the other.

Nelson B. Baker

Bedore, Mass.

“Remarkably Timely”

Thank you for Roy Anker’s insightful article “Yikes, Nightmares from Hollywood” [June 16]. As I prepare to teach a graduate seminar on Horror, Sci-Fi and Fantasy films from a Christian perspective, this “terrific” piece was remarkably timely.

In an exercise I use to extract script ideas from the students (we already sold one short horror film, All Things Fanged and Carnivorous, to HBO), I begin by asking them to write down three pressing fears that haunt them in the wee hours of the morning. Invariably, what terrifies them most parallels what is seen as most fearful in the Scriptures: the Good. And our complaint is that Hollywood has not yet recognized what truly tingles the spine, buckles the knees, quakes the heart, and turns bones into jelly. To meet God is a terrifying adventure.

Terry Lindvall

CBN University

Virginia Beach, Va.

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