It has been happening for a while – public schools have been a battle ground for controversial subjects for years. Some call it woke – some call it inclusion – and everyone has an opinion. The latest incident took place in a Minnesota school; the school board banned rainbow stickers and “All Are Welcome Here” shirts and posters, but not Christian symbols. When a student asked the superintendent why, he responded that he is a Christian, so those symbols don’t bother him. That, people, is Christian Nationalism, and it is neither faithful to Jesus nor patriotic to our country. It is bigotry. And it isn’t just anti-LGBTQ – many of the signs that have been banned show people of many different skin hues. It isn’t pro-God or pro-American either; it is faithless and it is unconstitutional.
I am not making an argument that there should or shouldn’t be rainbow flags in every classroom. The only flags I had as a child was the United States flag and, maybe, our state flag. If we did a class on another nation, that flag might appear as well; at least, we could see it in a book. Even the nations we considered our enemies would be discussed and learned about, because they were part of history. But unless your school has a class about every known religion, religious symbols shouldn’t be displayed, other than to show it on a banner or in a history book. Or as a religious movement that affected history in some way. No teacher or school or administrator should promote any religion or speak against it. That’s the First Amendment; maybe the Constitution should be taught every year in school – and Congress.
I hear people older than I am talk about when they were young; they prayed the Lord’s Prayer and it didn’t hurt anyone. But it did – it hurt any child who wasn’t a Christian, who felt that they weren’t able to speak up. Inclusion matters, no matter what some conservatives say, and knowing that you aren’t considered inferior because you are a different religion or color or sexual orientation or gender matters. Knowing that are respected in the same way that others are matters to your self-esteem. And keeping your ideas about faith to yourself is your right. It is disrespectful and arrogant and mean-spirited to force one’s faith on those who don’t want it. That’s what Christian Nationalism does. And I doubt that Jesus would approve.
Prayer – Holy God, help us mature in faith so that we appreciate and respect others. Amen.
Today’s art is a cartoon published in an anti-Catholic publication from the 1910’s and 20’s called The Railsplitter.