Old Glory Cross

In 1831, when sea captain William Driver was sailing to rescue mutineers of the Bounty, he saw the flag wafted by the ocean breeze and exclaimed "Old Glory!" We'll never know why; whether his mind was on the country, the flag, or whether he was beseeching God's grace for the journey ahead. Whatever the reason, the Old Glory name has been unofficially attached to the nation's flag ever since.

When Irving Berlin wrote 'God Bless America' in 1918, his intention was for the song to be a prayer for God's blessing and peace for the country. It was not intended to be a patriotic rally nor a claim that God was favoring our country. And yet this is what has happened. Berlin's song, our flag, and the word 'patriot', have been hijacked by mis-guided right wing zealots to further their cause. And we have all (or most of us) fallen in line.

Drunk on ideology and ethnocentric to a fault, we are convinced others see us as we do. And when the yoga/mantra/tofu people criticize us, that's further proof of our righteousness.

We glorify our country and call it 'great'. Aggressive use of our military and economic strength for expansionism and national aggrandizement tramples our opponents. We engage in such fascism and then wonder why the rest of the world thinks we're self-righteous. Of course, when our dear leaders mimic Sen. Albert J. Beveridge's abominable turn of the century speech that God has given America the divine mission to lead the world1...

America was created partly as a refuge from the despotisms of popes and preachers. When the Calvinist dissenters settled in New England, they believed they were creating a New World, underwritten by God, in the form of a democracy free from the tyrannical monarchies of Europe with all its evils. Of course not all settlers were Puritans. Others came to carve a new life for themselves and prosper materially, which many did. From these early struggles, America rose to become the super-power it is today.

As Mark Twain said: "History may not repeat, but it does rhyme."

Saying that God is on our side is much easier than doing things to make sure we are on God's side. Rather than try to play God by leading the human race; just joining it would be a good start.

With the "nation under God", as stated in our Pledge of Allegiance, the Old Glory Cross shows that we are serious in being a Christian country and doing all we can to be Christ-like. You know, things like:

• not using God's name to advocate war, death and produce weapons of mass destruction.2
• not going into business, no matter how profitable, when the products (including oil, gas, gold, and diamonds) support some of the most ruthless dictators in the world, just because they supported our empire building in the past.3
• not giving tax cuts to the wealthy and benefit cuts for everyone else.4
• not discriminating against race or gender.5

...the list goes on and on.

Here we have an old hymn by Fanny Crosby (1820-1915):

To God be the glory,
Great things He hath done;
So loved He the world
That He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life
An atonement for sin,
And opened the lifegate
That all may go in.

...and to the same music, we sing:

O flag of our Union,
To you we'll be true,
To your red and white stripes,
And your stars on the blue,
The emblem of freedom,
The symbol of right,
We children salute you,
O flag fair and bright.