Religion Friday

I was trying to find the article up on Yahoo! News' Opinion page from Wednesday, but I can't find the link. Anyway, the piece was about the American flag within the church and the separation of church and state. I don't remember the details, but the writer was making a lot of points that I completely agree with, although I don't think she ever said what I wanted, so I decided I should.

First of all, the American (or any country's flag) really has no reason being inside of the church. I know that sounds harsh, but as the church's body, we are supposed to be a worldwide family that is connected through our belief and when you add in patriotism, you automatically put yourself aside from people outside of your specific country. It seems to be particularly a problem here in the U.S., where religion is placed into the spotlight within the public as a kind of spectacle. I mean, you have arguments about Barack Obama's religion, James Dobson's reluctant (not quite) approval of John McCain, Televangelists, Megachurches, and so on. These big religion "talking points" do a great job of dividing the Christian faith over stupid trivial issues that really have no meaning. Sure, politics and our next president is important, but it really should do nothing to change the church or our worship.

I got a little off subject there, but when an object, such as the flag is placed into the church, it (whether subconciously or not) gives it a place in our worship that people begin to connect with their faith, no matter how little it truly does add in. It also brings to mind a wonderful experience that my wife and I had in a church. You see, neither of us are exactly patriotic and even less so when it comes to interrupting my worship of God, so when we were at a church that was saying the Pledge of Allegiance (yeah, to the flag, not to God) we were a little upset. Instead of standing with my hand over my heart and facing the flag, I kind of remained seated and read my bible (yes, I know in retrospect, I should have at least stood so we didn't get caught). Anyway what happened was that we "upset some of the members of the congregation" and were (in so many words) kind of kicked out of the church (it was quite a bit more political than that, but suffice to say, we don't really feel welcome there anymore.

Again, that is a little beside the point, but you can see how bringing patriotism into the church can bring more than you would really want. I know that we all bring some sort of baggage into our worship, but what is the point in adding more to that? Why add something that could needlessly hurt others in the middle of what is supposed to be something focused completely on God? I'm not sure, but I do know that I really don't think that a country's flag belongs within our sanctuary.

Have a great weekend, drop me a line to let me know what you thought. I'm going to see The Mummy tonight and will probably have impressions up for my Movie Monday post. Thanks to all who are leaving comments. Oh, Tim... the Wii version of Rock Band is just the same, but if you have a 360 or PS3, I highly recommend those, if only for the fact that Downloadable Content is so important for this game (also, if you are ever in the LaGrange Area you -or anyone else- is more than welcome to come play with me).