United Methodist Official Opposed to Old Glory? [Excerpts]
WASHINGTON, May 17 /Christian Newswire/ -- An official with the Washington, D.C. lobby office of the 8 million member United Methodist Church called this week for the removal of U.S. flags from his denomination's churches. The Rev. Clayton Childers of the Capitol Hill-based United Methodist Board of Church and Society declared: "The presence of a national flag in worship can imply endorsement of national policies which often run counter to the teachings of Jesus Christ and our Christian faith." He ominously noted: "One need only recall the way the Swastika Flag was displayed prominently in German churches during the Nazi era."
IRD Director of UMAction Mark Tooley responded,
"The United Methodist Church, under its liberal leadership, is losing over 50,000 members a year, and this church lobby official is oddly worried about getting American flags out of our churches."
"Unlike the blood-soaked Swastika flags that the Nazis forced upon German churches, American churches voluntarily display their country's flag as a reminder of the country in which God has providentially placed them. Typically, American flags stand against the side walls of American churches, quietly and [un]obtrusively. They are hardly the idolatrous object of imperialistic worship against which the United Methodist lobby official warned."
