Christian Nationalists Were Lying When they Pledged Liberty and Justice for All
Pledging allegiance to the flag of the United States of America was in second place
The other day, while scrolling, I saw some friends sharing their versions of a trend: a personal photo or video with an overlay text:
“I did not recite ‘with liberty and justice for all’ every morning at 8 am just to be called radical for wanting liberty and justice for all. Stop gaslighting me.”
It’s a trend that means well and speaks to the gaslighting that occurs when we see liberty and justice denied in America. We pledged allegiance to a country that protects due process and liberty for all as part of a democracy. Those standing up for those values now are being cast as radical liberals by the Trump administration and MAGA nation, ridiculed for having compassion and empathy and protesting against injustice. Why?
It’s true: you did recite that every day and take its meaning to heart.
The problem is, they didn’t.
I think conscientious and truly patriotic Americans who believe in democracy might not realize that when Christian Nationalists pledge “with liberty and justice for all,” they don’t mean “all.”
They mean liberty and justice for all who are like us.
In September 1897, a Sunday School youth rally in Brooklyn, New York, was scheduled to feature a special speaker. The guy never showed, and Charles C. Overton, the superintendent of the program, had to think on his feet. He asked the kids what they thought a flag representing Christianity would look like. It’s notable that earlier that month, a sheriff’s posse killed 19 unarmed immigrant workers in Pennsylvania, a tragedy known as the Lattimer Massacre. Who knows if a Christian response to inhumane behavior was on Overton’s mind or not, but I find it interesting considering the rest of his reputation.
Ten years later, Overton and his friend, Ralph Diffendorfer, an evangelical Methodist pastor, designed the flag and began promoting the flag as a product to churches.
Overton was a civic-minded religious man. As a 17-year-old, Overton founded the “Wide Awake Club” for military-minded youths who were against enslavement. He was the first horse-and-carriage driver to cross the Brooklyn Bridge and, for years, owned the most property in Coney Island. Overton mixed military power, politics, and religion in a way that hadn’t been united before; he believed in an evangelical spread of his ideology and, in addition to manufacturing the Christian flag, he also produced pins for adherents to wear.
Methodist minister Lynn Harold Hough then wrote the first pledge to the Christian flag:
I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag, and to the Saviour for whose kingdom it stands; one brotherhood, uniting all mankind in service and in love.
As the decades passed, the flag grew in popularity in America’s protestant churches. German Lutheran immigrants used the flag to show solidarity with Americans over the Nazis and fascism. The Christian flag became ubiquitous in evangelical private schools, chapels and churches across the country, and two of them flew on Billy Graham’s hearse after he died during the first Trump administration.
But the factions of Christianity don’t agree on the best version of the pledge to teach their children. In addition to the original Methodist version, there are others.
Lutheran version 1:
I pledge allegiance to the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Faith, for which it stands. One Savior, King Eternal, with mercy and grace for all.
Lutheran version 2:
I pledge allegiance to the Christian Flag, and to the Savior for whose Kingdom it stands; one brotherhood, uniting all [true] Christians, in service, and in love.
The conservative evangelical version:
I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag, and to the Savior for whose Kingdom it stands; one Savior, crucified, risen, and coming again with life and liberty to all who believe.
This version removes mercy, grace, and love, and inserts the salvation transaction. It’s the point we’re encountering now: unless you’re a professing evangelical Christian, you will not receive God’s love, mercy, or grace, and life and liberty will be denied you for all eternity.
Religious trauma survivors report reciting this version of conditional liberty in Vacation Bible School, Christian private school, and at church functions, their entire childhoods, often followed by a third pledge to the Bible. It’s not unusual for fundamentalist churches to fly the Christian flag above the American stars and stripes.
The trend about liberty and justice for all underscores that you’re not like them.
But Christian Nationalists have been pretending that they’re like you all along, saying the pledge along with every American, performing the appearance of democracy while privately amending the qualifiers in their hearts.
Christian Nationalism does not want liberty and justice for all. They do not want mercy, grace, and love for all. But until recently, this was the quiet part they couldn’t say out loud. They needed to blend in, and it’s why America is shocked to see people of faith believe in such a gated, conditional manner toward immigrants and anyone outside of their class, race, and creed.
Christian Nationalism serves itself.
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And there it is. They mouth “liberty and justice for all” while clutching a flag that means “for our tribe only.” The cross has been weaponized, the flag turned talisman, and the pledge corrupted by whispered exclusions.
Expose it. Name it. And while we do, keep spreading the Virgin Monk Boy Overcoming Christian Nationalism meme. The masks are off. Let’s make sure no one forgets what lies beneath.
Virgin Monk Boy
Thanks, Tia, for this post. We are all thinking together on this. I mean those of us who truly believe in liberty and justice for all. My last post dealt with how Joe rigney has provided a biblical/theological interpretation to support nationalism, patriarchy, chauvinism, machoism, submission of women and so on. My next post will continue criticizing his work. Keep up your thinking.