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The Pledge of Allegiance: Childhood vs. Adulthood (Miniblog #109)

by Carson T. Clark on April 20, 2012

The Pledge of Allegiance when I was 9:

I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Amen.

The Pledge of Allegiance now at 27:

I pledge allegiance to Christ and His Kingdom alone, not to the flag of the United States of America. Although I think republicanism is the best form of government and truly love and am blessed to live within this particular republic for which the flag stands, I cannot shake the conviction that nationalism is unbiblical. Similarly, I cannot in good conscience affirm the underlying philosophy of theocracy or caeseropapism necessary to claim we are, or ever have been, genuinely under God. Not only does the Civil War make the indivisible claim subject to scrutiny, the fact that no geo-political body has lasted indefinitely causes me to believe this too shall pass. And while I certainly believe liberty and justice are virtuous ideals to which we should continue to aspire, a high school education should evidence that this clearly has never been the reality. Amen?

It would seem I’ve lost my childhood innocence.

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  • http://ballymennoniteblogger.blogspot.com/ Robert Martin

    Heh…and this on the heels of a “discussion” I had recently with a couple of rapid Oriental Orthodox who are convinced that church involvement in the government of Russia is not only a good thing but the way things were always intended… sounds like someone is stuck in Constantinian Christendom…

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=163800401 Carson T. Clark

      Ugh. That gets me so frustrated. Especially in Russia! Do these people not see that it was the Orthodox Church’s alignment with the Czar’s that caused the Marxists to persecute them so heavily? (Same problem in the French Revolution.) How did they completely miss the history lesson of the 19th and 20th century? I’m preaching to the choir here, but when you entangle church with state and the state gets overturned, the church will reap the consequences. It kills me that the Orthodox don’t see the problem of nationalism. Of course, what do you expect? That has been their M.O. since the 4th century. Old habits are hard to break… and, yes, I say that as an Anglican with a distinct Anabaptist/Lutheran flair in terms of my political beliefs.

    • http://nailtothedoor.blogspot.com Dan Martin

      Yeah, and I have a good friend in Russia, pastor of a dynamic Evangelical church, that gets all sorts of flak and outright opposition from “Orthodox” who claim he’s actually preaching a Western political import that’s fundamentally wrong for their people.

  • Hank Corcoran

    Carson, would you be happier if the pledge was in the Subjunctive?
    Is nationalism the only possibility? Does patriotism cover the same subjective sense of loyalty to the us in the US without the overtones of the ‘us versus them’ of nationalism? Does the gospel imperative to love my neighbor only point to some abstract ‘neighbor’ or given my incarnational theology can it point to these particular persons who share a somewhat common experience? That is, to my neighbors who share a constitution, a common history (okay histories), a common set of ideals (libery and justice are virtues to be pursued), and a government?
    Is the US ‘under God’ any less than any other government (I’m thinking of Romans 13)? And if we want to acknowledge or remind ourselves that government serves as God’s minister for good, is it wise to shoot the messenger (I’m thinking of the pledge)?

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=163800401 Carson T. Clark

      I’m grammatically challenged. You’re gonna have to explain a Subjunctive to me.

  • http://profiles.google.com/wkennethleonard Ken Leonard

    Pledging allegiance to a flag is always going to be a problem. I don’t see any way around that being idolatry.

    Moreover, to pledge a special relationship to other people who happen to have been born within the same lines drawn on a map is a problem. However people try to spin it, we are expected to be more loyal to our fellow Americans than we are to our brethren. My government actively supports the oppression of Christians in various parts of the world.

    How can I possibly justify pledging allegiance to that?

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=163800401 Carson T. Clark

      *nods in agreement*

  • Tim G

    Now, if we can just find you a good editor …

  • Anonymous

    May-be you lost your innocence, but, I don’t know. Your pure ideals and love of God seem fairly innocent to me. :) Very nice posting young man, very nice.
    It kinda brings a tear to my eye to know that there are MANY young people still out there who aren’t ashamed to admit they love Christ and still stand with conviction.

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