Today I am sad

I would like to think I am as patriotic as the next person. I stand behind my country...as long as it is right. I stand behind right before country, however. I find wrong and evil to be wrong and evil regardless of who performed the act. At the same time, right is always right, regardless of who does it.
To me patriotism was not, is not, and never will be blind obedience and following of "national policy". I think flag waving is an exercise in futility that, like most symbols, means absolutely nothing. It lets people think they are something they are not I suppose and gives them a vicarious participation in the military exploits of a historically aggressive military nation.
I do believe there is a time and place to support the company, a time and place to wave the flag, recite the pledge of allegiance, and other monument polishing activities. I do NOT believe that time is in church.
When I look at the American flag and think about what it represents I see some good but I see a lot of bad, as well. I do not completely concur with current historian opinion that the Puritans and other early settlers had no religious motivation or toleration. There is simply too much contradictory documentation for that to be accurate.
Furthermore, the ridiculous assertion that most of the founding fathers were deists is quite misleading. The country WAS founded with religious principles and ideals in mind. These did not always function as intended, but the intent was there. Later people have badly misinterpreted what was said and intended and created their own mythology.
Take for instance the "separation of church and state", a phrase first uttered in a letter from Jefferson to a religious organization after 1800 in which he argued a point quite divergent from the current understanding. This is the same state that installed a prayer prior to each congressional meeting, had a prayer asking God's guidance in framing the Constitution, believed the "inalienable rights" could not be alienated because they were given by God, and many, many other examples that they believed in God and His guidance.
Many things went awry, however. Jefferson, for instance, wrote a famous letter in which he recommended causing Indians to be lured into debt for which they would have to sell their lands to pay off. That was under the same flag.
Black Kettle stood under the U.S. flag and a truce flag at Sand Creek knowing the soldiers would understand he and his people were friends to the government. His reward was to have Chivington say, "Damn any man who sympathizes with Indians! I have come to kill Indians, and believe it is right and honorable to use any means under God's heaven to kill Indians." (Brown, Dee, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, New York, 1970, p. 84) In the cowardly attack on the friendly Indians of Sand Creek, 105 women and children were killed along with 28 men. Huh? This is acceptable under the American flag? The soldiers did suffer 9 ded and 38 wounded...almost all from friendly fire by their drunken comrades.
I see this and the several times it was repeated when I see the American flag. I see President Andrew Jackson defrauding the Five Civilized Tribes, illegally driving them west of the Mississippi, refusing to follow the Supreme Court's orders, and the thousands who died on the trip. That was done under the U.S. flag.
When I see the flag I see the questionable and possibly illegal of the U.S. into World War I. That was after violating our own neutrality almost for the duration of the war.
World War II was a moral cause for the most part and I honor the things done under the flag for that. Yet, at the same time, under the same flag, I do not honor the relocation of Japanese and their descendants into concentration camps, nor do I justify or admire the racial portions of the war in the Pacific. Though I do not respect or admire those portions of our countries' history they still are are represented by the flag.
Also represented by the flag is the civil rights struggle. Much evil was done under the flag. People were killed, humiliated, imprisoned, lynched, prosecuted, persecuted, denied the "inalienable" rights...all under the same flag that people courageously worked under to make this country truly unified.
A lot of evil has been done under the auspices of the American flag and I am fully aware of many of them. This is not even a short list, it does not begin to cover the atrocities committed in the name of the U.S. and patriotism.
With that as a background it was very difficult for me to walk into church and see an American flag on the pulpit. The flag has no place in a church. The church is for God, the study of and worship of...not for propagating the aims of any country, no matter how good or bad that country is.
The sermon then centered on the flag...at least, the first 20 minutes did. I have no idea what the rest was because I walked out. I could not take it.
Church is for, by, and about God. Misguided, uneducated statements of patriotism have no place there. The time in church should be spent helping people follow the precepts of God...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, righteousness, study of the Word of God, helping people rid their lives of sin and replace those portions with holiness, with fellowship with their brothers and sisters in Christ, and things of that nature.
It was a sad day indeed for me. I hope I never again see things at such cross purposes as the evil of nationalism and so-called patriotism and the search for service to God. I hope and pray that the Christians of the world wake up and realize they are members of the nation of God, not some artifical land and culture based boundaries that have repeatedly been in flux. Unless and until such a time, who knows how much harm is being done to the people who need God and not flase ideals of what patriotism represents.