"Pledge of Allegiance" during church service

[MrJim]

I attend a Southern Baptist Church (18 months now) and during the course of the service yesterday (July 3) he had the congregation stand, face the flag, and say the Pledge of Allegiance.

Did this occur in your congregation?

 

[56Bluesman]

No. While my church is conservative in nature, and we are encouraged to pray for our leaders in government, we don't say the pledge of allegiance in church, because our greatest allegiance is to Christ and His kingdom and not to governments of men.

 

[the particular baptist]

If it did it would have been my last time there.

 

[Hammster]

Didn't happen in my SBC church.

 

[MrJim]

Now this is getting interesting...

 

[miamited]

Hi Jim,

No, although I am on vacation, it happened neither in the Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale and I'm pretty sure it probably didn't happen in my home fellowship either. I'm not even sure that we have an American flag in our worship center.

God bless you.
In Christ, Ted

 

[crishmael]

If it did it would have been my last time there.

I'm not a Baptist, but if that happened in my church, I'd do the same thing.

 

[His_disciple3]

come on have never any of you ever been to vacation Bible school? they say the pledge the to Christian flag, to the American flag and to the Holy Bible. in all the baptist Churches I have ever been in, except the one I am in now never been to vaction bible school there, and I don't think they even mentioned the 4th yesterday

 

[new_wine]

If a church I went to had a flag in it I would turn around and leave.

God is the only one to pledge allegiance to in his house.

 

[Bella Vita]

I'm sure it was in honor of the 4th of July our countries birthday. He was honoring God and our country that was founded on religious freedom that we praise God still have today. While many Christians in other countries have to meet underground in secret churches we get the comforts of a church in public with no threats to out lives or families for what we believe. We should stop to think about and acknowledge this from time to time because we as American's often are ungrateful to the rights our country has given us. I think some of you are making a way bigger deal of this we there is nothing wrong with being a proud Christian as well as a proud American.

 

[dies-l]

If it did it would have been my last time there.

I agree with this (and this might be the first and last time that TPB and I agree on much of anything). At one point in my life, I took a hardline stance that the pledge of allegiance was nothing short of idolatry. Now, I am a little more accepting of it, as I know that many people don't really mean it as a pledge of total allegiance. Still, in a church setting, I would see it as an insult to the only one we should be pledging our complete allegiance to, that being Jesus Christ.

 

[AndOne]

Though I wouldn't necessarily leave my church over it - I would not concur with the pledge of allegiance in church. Like the last poster said - the only person we should be pledging allegiance to in church is Jesus Christ. I've been serving this country on active duty for 22 years now - have said the pledge and will say it again - but I would not do it in church. One day this great nation will be no more - but Jesus Christ reigns forever...

 

[new_wine]

Myth.

The US was founded by people that wanted to make money and to remain English.

our country that was founded on religious freedom

 

[MrJim]

Our family respectfully stood (which we would in any nation that would have a pledge or national anthem) but that's all~~to me it was very awkward and unseemly...apparently I am not alone in this assessment.

 

[dies-l]

there is nothing wrong with being a proud Christian as well as a proud American.

True. But, there is something wrong with a Christian offering unconditional allegiance to ANYTHING other than Jesus. And to worship anything that is not God in God's house is hugely problematic. This is not a matter of being a "proud Christian as well as a proud American". It is a matter of trying to worship both God and country at the same time in the house of God.

 

[MatthewDiscipleofGod]

Myth.

The US was founded by people that wanted to make money and to remain English.

Actually you are the one spreading a myth. Sure, some were in it for the money but one only has to read the actually writings of earlier settlers to realize religious freedom was a big factor from coming to America.

 

[MatthewDiscipleofGod]

The church I attended did say the pledge and we had a very patriotic service.

 

[dies-l]

Actually you are the one spreading a myth. Sure, some were in it for the money but one only has to read the actually writings of earlier settlers to realize religious freedom was a big factor from coming to America.

Actually, you're both right (or wrong, depending on how you look at it). Religious freedom was a factor. Economic freedom was another factor. Adventure and entrepreneurship was another factor. And, there were many others. It is naive to think that there was some purely altruistic reason behind the founding of our country. It is overly cynical to say that there was none at all. But, really that's not the point.

The point is that when patriotism turns into nationalism, it becomes a form of idolatry. Knowing where you have crossed that line is not perfectly clear. However, when I think of the words of the pledge of allegiance ("I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America" could be restatated as "I pledge [my ultimate loyalty] to the flag of the United States of America"), I have concerns. I realize that many people do not intend their loyalty to their country to trump their loyalty to God, but when we start bringing the pledge into church, we come really really close to pushing that line between legitimate patriotism and idolatrous nationalism. The church is to worship God, not country, no matter how good our country might be.

 

[new_wine]

Which early settlers that would later become the fore bearers of the USA?

Who were they, where did they settle and when?

Actually you are the one spreading a myth. Sure, some were in it for the money but one only has to read the actually writings of earlier settlers to realize religious freedom was a big factor from coming to America.

 

[new_wine]

Name one group of settlers between the 1580 and 1630 that came for religious freedom in the colonies that would become the USA?

Actually, you're both right (or wrong, depending on how you look at it). Religious freedom was a factor. Economic freedom was another factor. Adventure and entrepreneurship was another factor.