Why Christians should be wary of waving the flag

You’ve probably noticed the recent outbreak of flags – and a corresponding outbreak of opposition to them. As fast as self-styled patriots could hang St George’s flags on lampposts and street signs, so councils have been declaring them illegal and taking them down again. 

I’ve always had a general distaste for national symbols, but lately, I’ve been trying to explore my dislike for what seems, after all, a fairly innocent way of celebrating one’s identity. 

As with many other things, I suspect it goes back to my family background. I am the daughter of Holocaust survivors. During the Nazi period, red swastika flags began to cover Germany – and, soon, any other nation that the Germans conquered. These flags were not only a sign of national pride, but a declaration of conquest, a prime example of history being written, as it mostly is, by the victors.

There’s a fine line between patriotism – which, at its best, can be defined as a love of one’s country – and nationalism, which extends the concept to hatred of all others. Nowadays, the distinction seems to be increasingly blurred. Perhaps this is why I feel uncomfortable when I enter a church and a frayed Union Jack hangs limply beside a Mothers’ Union banner and one for the local scout troop. I want to ask: Is this the Church of Christ (in the generic sense) or simply the Church of England? Is patriotism of any kind compatible with the gospel, when the Bible portrays the coming of the Kingdom of God as a great gathering of all nations, a breaking down of the barriers of nationality, race, gender and all other boundaries in which we take inappropriate and often divisive pride?

The Bible portrays the coming of the Kingdom of God as a breaking down of barriers

This leads me to the one exception in my objection to flags – which will no doubt get a strong negative reaction from some. Unlike most others, the Pride flag is not about celebrating a powerful majority who originally gained power by military means. Rather, it affirms a much-maligned minority (or several minorities) who have suffered terrible discrimination. Its origins are not really about being ‘proud’ of being gay or transgender, but more about refusing to be ashamed of something you have not chosen and cannot change. 

One of the very few mentions of flags in scripture is: “His banner over me was love” (Song of Solomon 2:4). We may not necessarily celebrate everything that claims to be love – the word can be used to cover selfishness, lack of commitment, lust or greed. But the compassionate love we should show to all, whatever their sexuality or gender identity, is a flag worth waving.