Bowing down to the American flag

[LiberalUprising]

http://www.wacotrib.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2005/10/09/20051009wacflowers10.html

“There is an ultimate truth of God, I do believe. No person, no nation and no institution, however, can claim to possess it without becoming idolatrous.”

To me the ubiquitous debates about the sanctity of the Pledge of Allegiance reflect a form of idolatry. Unless the Decalogue has been recently revised, idolatry is one of the biggest Judeo-Christian no-nos.

Yet, not only has the pledge become sacrosanct to many, along the line it also has become a way of enforcing religious dogma. ...

...So it baffles me why some Christians think that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance poses no conflict to their faith. I quit saying it in the late 1980's. On a good day, I fail miserably in living out my faith. Why on earth would I claim my allegiance to a kingdom other than the realm of God presented by Jesus? The answer for me is clear: I don't.

It's time that Christians abandon blind allegiances to the dominant, cultural expressions of religion simply because they sound correct, noble, or even American. As Spong reminds us, no nation or institution can claim to possess God's ultimate truth without being idolatrous. If it is to be retained, let the pledge be an optional only part of the public school forum. School districts should not force all students to recite it as part of a daily ritual. To claim that this is the right and only way to implement the pledge is not Christian. It is idolatry.

Robert Kenji Flowers of Waco is a United Methodist minister.

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. As a Christian, I *refuse* to pledge allegiance to a fucking

piece of cloth. I can't even pledge allegiance to the stuff it stands for, no matter how much I agree with it.

Allegiance to God - it's the only Christian answer.

But then, to the fundy fucks running this country, The flag, America, and God are all one and the same thing, so they don't see the awful idolatry they're engaging in.

Also refuse to sing the national anthem for that reason.

[silverweb]

2. On those very rare occasions...

...that I attend a function where the pledge is said, I sort of leave out most of it:

"I pledge allegiance to ... liberty and justice for all."

Now there is a pledge I can say and mean! Haven't been busted yet.

:evilgrin: