{"id":2485,"date":"2007-06-05T06:34:25","date_gmt":"2007-06-05T12:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/?p=2485"},"modified":"2013-06-11T07:31:32","modified_gmt":"2013-06-11T13:31:32","slug":"should-churches-display-the-american-flag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/should-churches-display-the-american-flag\/","title":{"rendered":"Should churches display the American Flag?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\n0044586_2.jpg<\/a>
\nOriginally uploaded by bamakodaker<\/a>.
\n<\/span><\/P><\/p>\n

The United Methodists are debating whether or not churches should display the American Flag in their sanctuaries.
\nRev. Clayton Childers<\/strong> had this to say:<\/p>\n

As a staff member at the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, I am frequently asked questions that require me to go where “angels fear to tread.” Questions about displaying national flags in the church’s sanctuary take us into that treacherous terrain.
\nMany United Methodist churches maintain a tradition of placing the United States flag in the sanctuary, by the altar, within the chancel, or at another prominent location on the church grounds. I heard of one case in which the U.S. flag actually covered the altar itself. So we must ask: Is this an appropriate use of the national flag from both a Christian and United Methodist perspective?
\nIt is an emotional issue. There are probably four objects that people commonly worship as much, or perhaps more, than God: 1) their mothers; 2) their children; 3) the Bible; and 4) the flag. Without getting into my favorable feelings toward the first three, I will say that, as an American, I do have a special fondness for our national flag.
\nThe flag represents the United States at her best – all the high and noble values that we profess and attempt to uphold as a people: human rights and liberty for all, the rule of law without fear or favor, democracy, equality, religious freedom, freedom to assemble, free speech, a free press, the right of privacy and other rights of individuals, and commitment to the common good. These are values I believe in, and I am proud to be a citizen of a country that proclaims its loyalty to these high principles.
\nOn the other hand, I do not believe in blind loyalty. I cannot affirm the idea of “my country, right or wrong.” There are times when the United States has been very wrong in its actions, even outrageously wrong. Until we can own the hard truth of our failures – dare we say “sins” – we can never experience the full and abundant life God would have for us as a people and as one member in the world community of nations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nRead more of his commentary<\/span>
\nI still have to go back to Derick Webb<\/strong>‘s words on this:<\/p>\n

my first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man
\nmy first allegiance is not to democracy or blood
\nit’s to a king & a kingdom <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nWhat about you? Do YOU feel comfortable with an American flag on the stage next to you pastor or choir?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

0044586_2.jpg Originally uploaded by bamakodaker. The United Methodists are debating whether or not churches should display the American Flag in their sanctuaries. Rev. Clayton Childers had this to say: As a staff member at the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, I am frequently asked questions that require me to go where “angels fear … Continue reading Should churches display the American Flag?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-misc","category-politics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pEnSo-E5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2485"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10794,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2485\/revisions\/10794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}