What happens when we remove the
cross from its theological context? We get heretical memes that believe these
symbols are identical. This picture
became popular because it was meant to protest Colin Kaepernick and other athletes who knelt during the national anthem. Their gesture, however, is not
even meant to be disrespectful to America or the anthem (leave that to me),
but it was meant to be a protest speaking out against unchecked discrimination
and racism in our justice system and how that stands against “American” values.
That is to say so long as racism is acceptable, especially from those in authority,
they will not participate in an anthem celebrating, or pledging allegiance to,
that kind of America.
To a
point, I can actually respect this and do not see, as many have said, an
overpaid “privileged” man whining, but I see a man with a platform and deeper
thoughts in his head than what his athletic season will look like. He saw an opportunity
to disrupt the whole damned system and he did (at least to some degree)! What
he probably did not intend on was where the backlash would become focused. Most
of the people who are upset over it have argued very little against the idea
that there is corruption in the justice system, but they have argued,
threatened and made clear Kaepernick has messed with one of our dearest national
idols. On top of it, the NFL in its own effort to NOT upset its wealthy
sponsors and hurt their own finances recently issued new rules in regards to
the national anthem in which protesting athletes are now to wait in the locker
room until after the anthem. All of these actions of outrage and complicity are very telling and so are the memes, like this, that have spawned from it.
I believe
that the Christians who insist on this meme of cross, soldier and flag as some
kind of truth are really quite confused. Each of these symbols are rooted in
different stories and meanings and I promise the cross stands in conflict to the flag, along with its subsequent flag liturgies, and to the soldier's occupation (unless the military
encourages you to love your enemies). The flag
alone seems to be as sacred as the liturgical use of cross. There is a
whole host of rules and etiquette for hoisting and lowering the flag,
displaying the flag (the how when, with, where and direction) and the disposing
of the flag in honorable and dignified ways when it becomes desecrated. The fact that the flag always demands
the most preferred honorable position in the room elevated high and lifted up above the profane should
tell you that you’ve invited some kind of an idol into your midst. Idols are different than sacred objects because idols often demand worship and the sacrifice of the another's well being.
With that in mind, allow give brief definitions for the symbols in the meme above are as such: the
flag's meaning is rooted in the beliefs and values of the founding fathers such as their ideas about purity, innocence, valor, justice and sovereignty.[1] The soldier is a symbol
of security and protection while on earth. And the cross, in this context, is
rooted in the belief that Jesus came to help you escape earth and hell when you
die (which is closer a Gnostic idea than a Christian one).
The cross in theology is a central part of Christianity, but the story it is rooted in has obviously been just as manipulated and twisted as any national symbol of
propaganda. Yet, there is a real difference when interpreted well. The cross was not fabricated to unite
a country, but God (touching the profane) used a real object of terror and murder to reveal himself as forgiver
and savior from our most monstrous constructs. The cross breaks the cycle of sacrificial
killing as a way to bring peace and forgiveness. The end goal was not peace because the way was
peace. The cross was no different than the noose, electric chair or any other
form capital punishment, yet when Jesus dies on it and moves onto resurrection his
message of forgiveness and reconciliation without sacrifice is vindicated by
God. In doing this he more mysteriously made the threat of death, in the long
term, obsolete. Jesus was forgiving, reconciling and loving on God’s behalf
thus revealing God the whole time and it culminates in the resurrection. But
God is especially displayed on the cross by being faithful to us even while
absorbing our sin of coercive violence. God transfigures a symbol of
state-sponsored death into a symbol of shalom that can no longer be used to
threaten those it rules. And most shockingly he offers the beginning of the
resurrected life here and now. This is the actual good news!
God’s
good news is for everyone not least the genuine victims behind all our
symbols. Like previously said, our symbols of soldiers are meant to be signs of
strength and security, but it is a myth with real victims: military personnel, their political national enemies and all casualties. The attempts to hide these victims are
becoming more unsuccessful as waves of soldiers return to their homes, on all
sides of war, more broken, angry and traumatized than they are proud, strong or
justified. The sin of war is the cause of all kinds of human suffering, but Jesus’
life and words from the cross points to the communion table where all are welcome
and reconciled and brought back to a borderless fellowship no country can offer. In this sense I think the athletes sitting down for the anthem for the sake of victims stand closer to the message of the cross and the God who is on the side of the victim than the Christians trying to silence them by conflating ideologies of God and country.
Note:
[1] Perhaps the first four became
important after they stole the land and killed many of its indigenous
inhabitants. Also note that the God of Genesis, who called a nomadic people out
of the desert and made them the tribe that would welcome and bless all other
tribes thereby dismantling tribalism, might have a problem with more ideas of
sovereign/autonomous nation-states.
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