Pledge of Allegiance

[ByTheSpirit]

This is not meant to be an anti-Patriotic question, though it will come across as such. For that let me apologize previous.

Last Sunday I attended a new church where during the service, they had everyone stand up and say the pledge of Allegiance to the US Flag.

Should Christians pledge allegiance to anything other than Jesus?

 

[PloverWing]

Ouch, that seems completely inappropriate to me!

Many people find the Pledge to be an expression of their love for their country, and it's fine with me if they say the Pledge on various occasions. But in church? No. At worship, our focus is God, who made all things, who existed before we started drawing any lines on maps, who is higher than any earthly government, and who will outlast any of our human civilizations.

 

[Hank77]

This is not meant to be an anti-Patriotic question, though it will come across as such. For that let me apologize previous.

Last Sunday I attended a new church where during the service, they had everyone stand up and say the pledge of Allegiance to the US Flag.

Should Christians pledge allegiance to anything other than Jesus?

This church sounds as if it may be a church that heavily promotes Christian Nationalism.

What Is Christian Nationalism?

An explainer on how the belief differs from other forms of nationalism, patriotism, and Christianity.

www.christianitytoday.com

 

[d taylor]

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Early Photo of school children pledging allegiance.

 

[JosephZ]

I dislike seeing an American flag displayed inside a church and, even more so, the thought of reciting the pledge of allegiance in the church.

The way I see it, when we are gathered to worship, we owe no other allegiance than to our Savior alone.

 

[mourningdove~]

This is not meant to be an anti-Patriotic question, though it will come across as such. For that let me apologize previous.

Last Sunday I attended a new church where during the service, they had everyone stand up and say the pledge of Allegiance to the US Flag.

Should Christians pledge allegiance to anything other than Jesus?

Tough question.
I honestly do not know enough about the history of America's Pledge of Allegiance to answer it intelligently.

But from a purely spiritual standpoint ...
I personally do not think we should pledge allegiance to America while in church.
I absolutely 'cringe' in those services where they push that practice.
I have always been very patriotic, but it just doesn't feel right to do that in church, where Jesus should be the focus ...

(What are your thoughts on it?)

 

[ByTheSpirit]

Tough question.
I honestly do not know enough about the history of America's Pledge of Allegiance to answer it intelligently.

But from a purely spiritual standpoint ...
I personally do not think we should pledge allegiance to America while in church.
I absolutely 'cringe' in those services where they push that practice.
I have always been very patriotic, but it just doesn't feel right to do that in church, where Jesus should be the focus ...

(What are your thoughts on it?)

I tend to agree with others here, and you that certainly in a church gathering such practices should be furthest from our minds.

Funny, I was a Soldier for 15 years, so for me to have this feeling is a bit odd. But I personally (and I emphasize personally) feel that Christians should not pledge allegiance to anything but Christ. Loyalties divided are not loyalties at all in my view. I cannot pledge my allegiance to one king and another at the same time. This does not mean I need to be a rebel or law breaker, no. But it does mean that my highest authority is Christ.

That is just my thought on the matter. I think scripture is clear that we are in the world, but not of it. We are also admonished to pray for those leaders God appoints over us. But I don't see anything about owing our fielty or allegiance to any earthly government. Submission to their authority sure, when the laws do not conflict with our service to the Lord. Prayers for all, but not allegiance.

 

[mourningdove~]

I tend to agree with others here, and you that certainly in a church gathering such practices should be furthest from our minds.

Funny, I was a Soldier for 15 years, so for me to have this feeling is a bit odd. But I personally (and I emphasize personally) feel that Christians should not pledge allegiance to anything but Christ. Loyalties divided are not loyalties at all in my view. I cannot pledge my allegiance to one king and another at the same time. This does not mean I need to be a rebel or law breaker, no. But it does mean that my highest authority is Christ.

That is just my thought on the matter. I think scripture is clear that we are in the world, but not of it. We are also admonished to pray for those leaders God appoints over us. But I don't see anything about owing our fielty or allegiance to any earthly government. Submission to their authority sure, when the laws do not conflict with our service to the Lord. Prayers for all, but not allegiance.

It does not come 'naturally' to me to question the pledge ...
My Grandfather served very courageously in WWII; paid a very high personal price for it, the rest of his life ...
I was a career Federal employee, where we pledged 'allegiance' with every new entry on duty ...
Growing up, we made that pledge very day in grade school ...

... but I agree that our allegiance belongs to none other than Jesus Christ, The King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

 

[DragonFox91]

I was just thinking this morning a while back in Sunday School some of us said they think saying the Pledge is wrong because you should only pledge allegiance to God, & how I thought that wasn't right:

You pledge allegiance to a lot of things in life. Your job, your family, your friends, even yourself, & Jesus calls us even to love our enemies. It therefore seems inconsistent to think pledging allegiance to your country is wrong. People have always understood you have a role, a commitment, to yourself, your family, local community, nation, & even the world.
Or do you live in such a bubble, a monastery, you have no faithful commitment to even these things? Do you say 'My only allegiance is to God, I therefore say no allegiance to my family?' or I don't care about my community because my only commitment is God?' Of course not, that's ridiculous.

I'm disappointed at the responses here.

But no, it shouldn't be said in church other then special occasions like a national holiday. Service just is not the time for it.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

I was just thinking this morning a while back in Sunday School some of us said they think saying the Pledge is wrong because you should only pledge allegiance to God, & how I thought that wasn't right:

You pledge allegiance to a lot of things in life. Your job, your family, your friends, even yourself, & Jesus calls us even to love our enemies. It therefore seems inconsistent to think pledging allegiance to your country is wrong. People have always understood you have a role, a commitment, to yourself, your family, local community, nation, & even the world.
Or do you live in such a bubble, a monastery, you have no faithful commitment to even these things? Do you say 'My only allegiance is to God, I therefore say no allegiance to my family?' or I don't care about my community because my only commitment is God?' Of course not, that's ridiculous.

I'm disappointed at the responses here.

But no, it shouldn't be said in church other then special occasions like a national holiday. Service just is not the time for it.

Your comparisons are rather extreme and not useful. Scripture tells us to be faithful and committed to our families and places of employment, it makes no such requirement of whatever country you live in. It does say to pray for those who are appointed to lead you up to kings and emperors, but no where does it say a believer owes their allegiance to their nation. And I have never once pledged allegiance to my job, I've signed forms saying I'd abide by the obligations imposed on me, but that is NOT a pledge of Allegiance.

And your last bit there is rather contradictory. Either service time isn't the place for the pledge so it shouldn't be said at all, or it's ok.

 

[DragonFox91]

I disagree, Spirit. You are showing commitment to your nation by paying taxes to it, just like Jesus instructs. Since you pay taxes to it, you are accepting its authority over you & therefore swearing allegiance (loyalty, committment, accepting its superiority) to it. This is not blind allegiance, it's not binding, it's not saying it has more authority than God, it's not saying it's always right, it's simply accepting the present relationship with it. Just like any other relationship you may have.

You are a correct on a clarification I need to make on my last line: churches I've attended say the pledge after the service in a little optional memorial on very select occasions (holidays). I find nothing wrong w/ this. Do you vote? That's not directly in the Bible but I suspect it's something you do anyways. Do you read for pleasure? Do you watch movies? Do you listen to 'pagan' music? Not in the Bible, but you do it anyways. So yes, doing it in a service seems wrong, but in a church, with other believers, no, time & a place.

& no, there are times & places for things. When you're a little child, you don't do things an adult does, for example. It doesn't mean what the adult's do is wrong. It doesn't mean what the child's doing is wrong. 'There's a time & place' for things has always been understood as a truth.

 

[AlexB23]

This is not meant to be an anti-Patriotic question, though it will come across as such. For that let me apologize previous.

Last Sunday I attended a new church where during the service, they had everyone stand up and say the pledge of Allegiance to the US Flag.

Should Christians pledge allegiance to anything other than Jesus?

This is a valid question. Christians should not pledge allegiance to anything other than Jesus, as God himself wrote it in the 10 Commandments, the basic rules of living as a Christian. The Germans basically pledged to the nasty regime (not saying the party name) back in the 1940s, so why should we Christians pledge to a flag, regardless of nation? Same thing. Also, why would a church have the pledge of allegiance anyways? What about for Christians who have traveled from abroad on vacation who visited said church, it would feel gut wrenching to stand for a pledge as a hypothetical foreigner. So, that is the more practical reason why the pledge should not be said in a church.

Bible verse:

Exodus 20:4 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them".​

 

[PsaltiChrysostom]

I'm not a fan of country flags in churches either and I'd pretty much walk out if they were doing the pledge as part of a service. That being said, there may be historical reasons for an American flag in a particular church. During WW1, there was a lot of anti-German sentiment and a lot of German churches started displaying the flag to show they were American patriots. So that might just be a habit for an old church.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

I disagree, Spirit. You are showing commitment to your nation by paying taxes to it, just like Jesus instructs. Since you pay taxes to it, you are accepting its authority over you & therefore swearing allegiance (loyalty, committment, accepting its superiority) to it. This is not blind allegiance, it's not binding, it's not saying it has more authority than God, it's not saying it's always right, it's simply accepting the present relationship with it. Just like any other relationship you may have.

You are a correct on a clarification I need to make on my last line: churches I've attended say the pledge after the service in a little optional memorial on very select occasions (holidays). I find nothing wrong w/ this. Do you vote? That's not directly in the Bible but I suspect it's something you do anyways. Do you read for pleasure? Do you watch movies? Do you listen to 'pagan' music? Not in the Bible, but you do it anyways. So yes, doing it in a service seems wrong, but in a church, with other believers, no, time & a place.

& no, there are times & places for things. When you're a little child, you don't do things an adult does, for example. It doesn't mean what the adult's do is wrong. It doesn't mean what the child's doing is wrong. 'There's a time & place' for things has always been understood as a truth.

If you read in Hebrews 11, specifically Hebrews 11:13-16, it mentions those of faith being exiles on earth. Not citizens of any nation, for "if they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have returned, but they were longing for a better country." That seems to imply to me pretty clearly that we, as Christians, do not owe our allegiance to any nation on earth.