Photo Credit: Rollin Riggs for The New York TimesCan you believe that? What you see above is the Statue of Liberation through Christ, a $250,000 reimagining of the Statue of Liberty in front of a Memphis Mega-Church. She holds a cross aloft in one arm, and in the other the Ten Commandments. Her crown has the word "Jehovah" inscribed in it, and she is shedding a tear.
When I was talking about how Evangelical Christians have aggressively attempted to incorporate their theologies into our nation's traditions and symbols, I did not imagine that a congregation would literally attempt such an endeavor. But there's the result, which is amusing and shocking to me. The more I think about it, the more I feel that a national symbol is being desecrated. The Statue of Liberty is a symbol of emancipation, political freedom, and American prosperity. To reform Lady Liberty as a Christian symbol, I fear, forecloses its moral and social impact to anyone who is not a Christian, and that's plain wrong.
Another blogger says it better than I can:
To a very real extent, the Statue of Liberty (despite being the product of the French) has come to symbolize America -- and America does not stand for theocracy. The Statue stood over New York Harbor where it welcomed immigrants of all faiths and no faith. The only belief America has ever demanded of its citizens, native-born and naturalized, is belief in America itself, belief in the idea that freedom and diversity were inherently good. To show the Statue holding a cross is a desecration.
- Post by Lizard, The Journal of Applied Misanthropology
But among America's highest virtues is our freedom of expression. Americans are free to reinterpret our national symbols, even to the point of desecration. That applies to our flag, too.
Courtesy Andrew Sullivan. The original article was in today's New York Times.
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