Flag Day

Pledge of Allegience being said at school - 1899. Note how the students have their hands flat and palm-down against their heart. Interesting, huh?
Photo courtesy of Andrew Sullivan

Happy Flag Day, everybody!

Forgive me for waxing patriotic, but I love America and I love being an American. Sure, I complain a lot about our current priorities as a nation, but at the end of the day, I see this country for what it is: a nation of great potential, spirit, and drive, instilled with some of the best virtues of humankind.

It is really quite remarkable that our nation's founders managed to hammer out a constitution and a republic that has endured to this day. Unfortunately, there is a tendency among us to reify the founders, but they were humans like us - people of great character who were also deeply flawed. Our constitution is as much a product of political calculation and compromise as it is a lofty testament to political and philsophical ideals.

Recently, some groups, particularly evangelical conservatives, have pressed the case that America is a stridently-Christian nation, and that the United States is part of some messianic project. An example of this is the effort among some (particularly Roy Moore in Alabama) to place the Ten Commandments in courtrooms. I do not believe this is an accurate portrait of our history, and I see attempts at redefining the American experience in terms of protestant Christianity as an unfair appropriation of our nation's history and philosophy. The founders of this country, many of whom practiced a Christianity that bears little resemblance to today's religious movements, would have none of it.

Simply put, the American project is a pluralist, classically-liberal, and fundamentally secular movement. These values have underwritten a national identity where it's possible for anyone of any faith to feel fully embraced by the nation, and that's a good thing. The constitutional guarantee of religious freedom is to allow individuals to follow their conscience freely. I fear that incorporating the history and philosophy of our country into an evangelical/Christian narrative risks precluding those who don't fit into that narrow paradigm. For example, when the Family Research Council complained about a Hindu religious figure giving the invocation before Congress, they argued:

The USA's founders expected that Christianity--and no other religion--would receive support from the government as long as that support did not violate peoples' consciences and their right to worship.

On the contrary. As I've understood it, the founders as a group were pretty hostile to the idea of religions interfering with government. No one argues the authenticity of their Christianity, or the fact that they recognized that Christianity formed a core part of the early national identity of Americans. But they were among the first political leaders in the world who realized that keeping religion and the state apart at a healthy distance made for stronger faith and better statecraft. Americans are more religiously- and culturally-diverse now than ever before. All the more reason in my mind to emphasize the fundamentally secular, pluralistic, and ecumenical heritage of our nation.

Interestingly enough, the Concerned Women of America, another group who views our constitution through stained glass, got their facts wrong on the Pledge of Allegiance. Andrew Sullivan has the scoop.