King and Solomon

Remember the Biblical story of King Solomon? In what has to be the world's most f-ed up custody case, two women come to King Solomon asking him to decide who gets to keep a baby. He says, just cut it in half and you can each have a piece. (Note: when I first heard this story in Sunday School, I was dubious. I mean... really?) Anyway, the story goes that one of the women said, yeah sure, and the other said "ARE YOU FRAKKING INSANE??? DON'T CUT MY BABY IN HALF!" (Note: not a direct quote from the Bible.) And Solomon in his infinite wisdom figured that the woman who was cool with half a baby corpse (I say again... really?) was either a) not the mother, or b) possibly the actual mother, but too frakking fruitloops to be trusted with a kid anyway. Problem solved.

I've been thinking about King Solomon ever since my neighboring community, King, stepped in a local Christians vs. Constitution debate a few months ago. In a nutshell, the city added a Christian flag to its public veterans memorial; a resident (who said he's a veteran himself, btw) called them saying he objected to this on the-government-can't-give-preference-to-one-religion grounds; the city heard the same thing from the ACLU and decided to avoid a lawsuit and take the flag down; and then Bibles hit the fan.

For about a month or so now, a group of King residents has been going out to the monument every day and setting up a Christian flag, keeping vigil next to it all day. (As is their right, by the way.) Yesterday, King's town council voted - Solomon-like - to spilt the difference. A compromise will fly the various flags recognized by the U.S. military (and it is a military monument, after all), including the Christian flag.

As a Christian myself, I have a hard time getting worked up over this. At no point during this drama have I gone to open my Bible or pray and been unable to do so because my faith is under attack or something. While Christians may be a majority in the U.S., our government - including our military - is and always has been secular. As I've written before, the people who created our government from scratch had a chance to make Christianity the state religion, and they didn't. That's a choice they made for a reason.

By the way... is "Christian flag" not an oxymoron?

I think the King town council made the best choice here. It's one that might not be popular with people who think they need a flag in a park in order to practice their faith (despite specific instructions from the head of our church to the contrary), but it was the best choice. A monument to military veterans should follow military guidelines, and that means recognizing religions other than Christianity. Unless you only want Christians to enlist in the military from now on, that is.

On a more general note... I realize that I'm about to piss in some cornflakes here, but it had to be said. Just know that I'm not casting judgment on others any more than I am myself. Do you ever think about WHY Jesus told his followers to pray in the dark where no one could see you, and that the people who prayed out in public were hypocrites? I think it's because being a public Christian is easy, and Jesus knew that.

It's easy to wear a cross necklace or a WWJD bracelet or - yes - to go to church every Sunday, and say to yourself, "Well, I'm done for the week." What isn't easy is to LIVE Christian values: giving, living humbly, forgoing revenge, accepting that yuo're not in charge. One Biblical story I've always struggled with is the one about the Prodigal Son - you know, where one kid screws up in every way possible, comes home in shame and his father throws a massive party to welcome him home, and the other kid, who's always done everything right, is like, WTF? Where the hell's my fatted calf?

I think what Jesus wants his followers to get is that we don't get a cookie - ahem, fatted calf - for doing what we should. And we shouldn't expect it. Following Jesus is ultimately about losing your pride, your "I got mine, so screw you" instincts. You shouldn't need a flag in a park, like your religion just won the Super Bowl or something.

The Winston-Salem Journal did some really great journalism Sunday and featured short stories about several King residents. One of them was a diner owner who said she'd gotten comments from customers because she didn't post a Christian flag in her business. She told them she'd never flown that flag before, so why would she now?

It's unpleasant to think of Christians in King who may be judging others based on what earthly emblems they choose to display - which, again, is a direct contradiction of what Jesus tells us to do. The King town council made a good decision, publicly, governmentally. I hope that my Christian neighbors make good decisions as people of faith.