On Friday, July 10, at the South Carolina Capitol, the Confederate flag was removed. On Sunday, July 12, at my church, the Confederate flag was prominently displayed. I saw the oversized flag attached to the back, right-side of an oversized pickup truck in the church parking lot. On the left-side was an equally enormous Gadsden flag. The message was clear.
Inside the church, the pastor preached keenly on how we Christians are to love everyone around us, even when we passionately disagree. The only political reference was his understated, matter of fact mention that same-sex marriage had been made legal in all fifty states. He went on to explain that the vitriolic reactions by many Christians were sinful, that even those who maintain that homosexual activity is biblically wrong are still commanded to treat all people in love and grace.
The most striking irony to me is that discussions of Christian love and grace are applied to the gay rights issue, but not to the Confederate flag issue. At least this is the case in my southern, theologically conservative environment. Christians around me want to talk about and understand how to love gay people without condoning what many think the Bible still describes as a sin. (This should not be much of a problem, really, given our love for straight people who are full of lies, envy, and heterosexual lust.) When the Confederate flag issue is raised, though, many of those same Christians adamantly proclaim their individual right to honor their heritage, never minding the hatred that is the very substance of that heritage.
This notion of individual right without concern for offense is perfectly illustrated by the flag-laden truck in my church’s parking lot. The Gadsden flag with its “don’t tread on me” motif says, “Whatever the Confederate flag means to you is none of my concern. I like it, I’ll fly it, and no one has a right to tell me not to.” Yet, inside the church, the pastor bears the message of Jesus: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9, NIV). Similarly, Paul instructs, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18, NIV, emphasis added).
Living at peace with everyone is easier said than done. For all our talk of diversity, our differences make living at peace – the real kind of positive peace – complicated. Whatever might be involved in figuring this out, the Bible makes clear that we Christians bear the mandate to make peace happen with everyone around us. If we take “as far as it depends on us” seriously, we must realize that we will be required to lay aside some of our rights, particularly our right to do what we know is genuinely offensive to others.
A friend of mine once asked how far we are to go with this. What if someone says she was abused by her father every time he wore a red shirt, and that every time she sees a red shirt, she is overcome by anxiety? Should we ban the wearing of red shirts?
I do not know if we ought to do anything legislatively were such an extreme hypothetical involving one person to become reality. But, if that person were in a support group that was genuinely concerned with helping her, would not the members of the group agree to avoid red shirts any time she might be around? Surely their love for her would compel them to lay aside their rights in order to facilitate peace and healing. Legislative action aside, her friends would do of their own volition whatever they could – “as far as it depends on us” – to be at peace with her.
I think persuasive arguments for removing the Confederate flag from all state properties are easily made. I grieve the fact that our country had to suffer the slaughter of nine African-Americans to take those arguments seriously. I also grieve the fact that many of us Christians continue clinging to our individual rights, when our savior promises that “whoever loses their life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39, NIV).
While we are right to apply normative principles of love and grace to issues such as same-sex marriage, we must also acknowledge that love and grace are essential in other social issues. When some right that we demand is so plainly offensive to others, we are required to lay aside that right for the sake of living at peace with everyone. This depends on us.