The other day I saw a guy riding his motorcycle with a large cross affixed to it. The flag was painted with the stars and stripes. The long bar of the cross was about four or five feet long, and the cross bar was of the usual proportion. The cross wrapped in the flag bugs me on several different levels.
From a religious perspective:
One of the most appealing things about Christianity is its universalism. Sure there is racism in the Old Testament, but Jesus cast all that aside and embraced everyone. Paul and his followers ensured that Christianity would be preached beyond the Jewish community. When I was a believer, I had a Christian student and friend from Nigeria that called me his “brother”. A black American student asked him one time why he called me brother, considering that I am white. “He’s my brother in Christ” said my friend. I liked that.
To literally wrap the cross in a political flag is to debase the universal message and appeal of Christianity.
From a political perspective:
The United States is a secular country. It’s bitterly ironic that the rationale members of our founding fathers fought the others so stringently to avoid religious tests for political offices, to avoid an ecclesiastical body being joined to the Congress, and just in general fought to keep religion as much out of the political arena as possible. But then afterwards the religionists managed to add “God” to our money and our pledge of allegiance, and Christian voting blocs hold more power in the US than they ever have.
But painting a cross in flag colors really takes the cake. I think I hear Jefferson spinning in his grave.
From a social perspective:
Wrapping the cross in the flag also makes a statement that is more social than precisely political, I think. It says that anyone who isn’t Christian isn’t American. It’s the same reason those “Support Our Troops” decal magnets are sometimes painted red, white and blue instead of the more neutral yellow: the clear implication is that if you don’t support the war, you aren’t a true or at least good American.
The Founding Fathers were religious fanatics. A trickledown effect was inevitable. You wouldn’t catch Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders, or Englishmen doing this.
The Founding Fathers were not of uniform religiosity. There was a broad range of beliefs among them…from the deist Thomas Jefferson to the firebrand Puritan Samuel Adams to the philosophical Christian John Adams. But there weren’t any real fanatics among the leaders of the revolutionary movements. Sam Adams was certainly very religious but hardly a fanatic.
It was the American people who have been and continue to be religious. That’s fine, as long as it stays out of governance…wrapping a cross with a flag is a symbol for doing just that…and it pisses me off.
the founding fathers were religious fanatics? that is different that what i was taught. many were deists, but acknowledging a god and being a fanatic are miles apart.
when fascism comes to america it’ll be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.
You’re joking, right? We had a Canadian stay at our house for a few days, and as a gift he left our son a Canadian flag, that was wrapped around a cross. I’m not bothered by anyone’s faith, as long as they don’t make a point of driving it down my throat or killing me over it.
The PILGRIMS were religious fanatics. The Founding Fathers were businessmen.
[quote=“skeptic yank”]the founding fathers were religious fanatics? that is different that what I was taught. many were deists, but acknowledging a god and being a fanatic are miles apart.
when fascism comes to America it’ll be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.[/quote]
Many of our Founding Fathers were descendants of the Puritan pilgrims, including Samuel Adams, who retained Calvinistic beliefs. Sam Adams had a terrible head for business and failed in every venture he tried or his father forced him into.
Thomas Jefferson spent his entire fortune on books and wine, sold it all for money, bought more books and wine, made poor investments, and was so broke that when he died that he did not free his slaves in his will because he was afraid his family would starve. Despite common belief, the irony of the contradiction between the revolutionaries’ ideals of freedom and equality and the perpetuation of slavery was not lost on our Founding Fathers. It was considered poor form among them to not free one’s slaves in his will. In the end of his life Jefferson wrote his friends to explain why he couldn’t do it.
The Founding Fathers were not of uniform religiosity.[/quote]
Sorry, I mean to say the Pilgrim Fathers, not the Founding Fathers. The Pilgrim Fathers were the religious fanatics. The Founding Fathers were a more mild mix of deists, and Christians.
Somehow I don’t think that cross was five feet long, half a foot thick, and carried everywhere on his backpack.
Have you considered another possibility? The guy is a proud American and a proud Christian and he’s simply created a single symbol that would express two of his most fundamental identities. Ya know, self expression.
[quote=“Screaming Jesus”]A proposal to change the U.S. flag to better reflect that it is “one nation UNDER GOD”: objectiveministries.org/game … yflag.html[/quote]
The creator of the flag, Jack Holgroth, is described as a certified Vexillologist. You would then think that he’d know better than to put words on a flag. Arabic and Persian is read from right to left. So when someone from the Middle East sees the new flag, his initial reaction would be to read “GOD” spelt in reverse, reinforcing his belief that the US is “one nation UNDER DOG”. What a great way to improve relations.
As a vexillologist myself (really!), I can assure you that words are sometimes used on flags (those of Brazil or Saudi Arabia, for example) though the practice is discouraged. The problem you mention can be solved either by attaching two flags together, or by using some method other than silkscreening.
Personally, instead of the word “God” I think they should use a symbol for God–such as an eye in a pyramid, or the tetragramaton. Or would it be better to substitute a detail from the Sistine Chapel?