...literally.
Above is a photo taken Sunday morning as I passed a Baptist church on the way to the Unitarian-Universalist fellowship I'm a member of. I pass probably three or four such churches in the 15-mile drive to the UU - gladly, I might add.
Come along over the orange doodle and ponder the meaning of it all.
http://images.dailykos.com/...
How do we interpret this? Let us count the ways:
1. Only Christians are patriots.
2. Only patriots are Christians.
3. Only Christian veterans will be honored this Veterans Day.
4. Jesus loved only Americans.
5. Jesus WAS an American.
6. Church and state are one and the same.
7. We're in a red county in a red state, and Jesus voted for Republicans. Or would have.
8. We in this church have no clue about proper flag etiquette.
On my way home again after services were over (at UU and this church), I saw that the flag had been removed. (The cross is a permanent feature.) A worthwhile response to a display like this - or to any other irksome communication failure - is to assume good intentions. I don't often succeed, no matter how many times I'm reminded, but I'm trying hard: I assume the good intention here was to honor U.S. veterans on this Sunday before Veterans Day. But the good intention is smothered under the clumsy symbolism.