[Dialogue] Bonhoeffer quote, Help

[opossum2@att.net]

Colleen, and colleagues,

I, too, have been intrigued by this merging of secular and religious symbols (flags in churches).  I grew up in the Methodist Church in SE Texas in the fifties and sixties, and there was never a flag or any other national symbol displayed in our local church sanctuary.

When I went to Australia in 1970, I occasionally went to an Anglican church service, and it was a surprise to see the national flag displayed to one side of the pulpit and the "Anglican" (I don't know what else to call it)  flag displayed on the other side.  I could understand this from the standpoint that in the Anglican communion the reigning monarch and not the pope is the head of the church, but it still was very strange to me. 

What disturbs me is that these days whenever I am in a church, UMC or otherwise (which is only for weddings, funerals, etc.) there is always a U.S. flag prominently displayed.  This disturbs me, but I can only hope that eventually we Americans will get beyond this jingoistic nonsense and most of the other baggage that Ronnie Regan et. al. have saddeled us with.

Best regards,

Steve Rhea

Houston, Tx.

unseasonably cool on this Friday afternoon, and all the rain has made our flowering plants go crazy.