American Idol

Last night I was flipping through the channels and came across "In Touch" with Charles Stanley. I like Stanley's preaching so I checked it out, only to find that the pulpit was occupied by David Barton. The usual backdrop behind the preacher (a map of the world) was covered by an enormous American flag.

In my worship class we had a heated discussion about this very topic. Should an American flag be raised at the front of church? Should we hold a special service on 4th of July weekend in honor of our nation? How much patriotism should we show during worship?

Anyone who knows me knows that I love the United States. I know and love our history and I'm proud to be an American. That being said, I am offended that a 40 foot-long American flag covered the map of the world at First Baptist Church. Doesn't the Bible constantly warn against pride and trusting in earthly power? Shouldn't we, as Christians, consider our American citizenship less important than our identity in Christ?

The typical rebuttal to my outrage would tell me to listen to David Barton's words. He "preached" (and I use the term loosely) about how the United States was founded by Christian men who had a goal to create a Christian nation. He said we need to protect our Christian heritage by electing Christian people "whether it's the local dog-catcher or the President." I'm not against electing Christian people, but there is an implication that if only the United States could have a really Christian President then we would be ok. These people (although they would never admit it) are all about trusting our power as a nation and our human leadership over the leadership of Christ over our personal lives. It's far too easy to project our national problems onto a corrupt political system instead of taking personal responsibility for things like racism, corruption, environmental concerns or social injustice.

All this leads to my distaste of promoting patriotism during worship services. When the focus of an entire Sunday morning service is on the United States, we are worshiping something, and it's not God. That makes God angry, so it should make Christians angry too.