The Christian flag is everywhere in the small city of King: flying in front of barbecue joints and hair salons, stuck to the bumpers of trucks, hanging in windows and emblazoned on T-shirts. The relatively obscure emblem has become omnipresent because of one place it can’t appear: flying above a war memorial in a public park. The city council decided last month to remove the flag from above the monument in Central Park after a resident complained, and after city leaders got letters from the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State urging them to remove it. That decision incensed veterans groups, churches and others in King, a city of about 6,000 people 15 miles north of Winston-Salem. Ray Martini, 63, an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam, launched a round-the-clock vigil to guard a replica Christian flag hanging on a wooden pole in front of the war memorial. Since Sept. 22, the vigil has been bolstered by home-cooked food delivered by supporters, sleeping bags and blankets donated by a West Virginia man and offers of support from New York to Louisiana.
Look, let’s be clear, the flag in and of itself isn’t the issue for me. The issue is the fact that what’s supported by an entire community can be undermined by one or two complainers. That kind of power in the hands of a few is the absolute overthrow of democracy itself. It is infuriating. Absolutely infuriating. Further, it’s absolutely insane. If I lived in King I’d organize as many people as I could and vote out the cowardly commissioners who caved in to the will of the teeny tiny minority. And I’d festoon the entire town with every sticker and banner I could get my hands on. Yes, festoon it! Wretched feckless dimwittery and the ACLU are marching hand in hand on this one. The rights of the vast majority should not be denied because of the carping of the insipid.
Zwinglius Redivivus 
Its becoming worse. Here in Wisconsin, a law was enacted last year that allows anyone who is “offended” by a public school mascot (ie. an American Indian name) can file a complaint with the state department of public instruction. After a hearing, the name has to be changed. No school district has been able to prevent this.
LikeLike
I understand your frustration but it is hardly just people that object to religious matters that go overboard for one or two people. I used to work for a denomination, one member of the denominational missions board objected to us publicly thanking a local Catholic arch bishop for greasing the local political a religious wheels for a denominational evangelism push. (Arch Bishop got our denied permits taken care of, wrote a letter to newspaper publicly supporting us doing evangelism and privately forced local ecumentical group to shut up). But when just one board member objected to us asking the arch bishop to pray at the evangelistic rally ( in a 60 percent catholic area) we were told to unite him or lose all current and future funding. We buckled, uninvited him, he receded his request that we train his priests in evangelism and never met with us again. Destroyed three years of behind the scenes work. It has been 10 years now and not only has the relationship never been re-established, our local denominational association went from 20 staff to 1 and a part time secretary.
LikeLike
Sorry for typos I wrote on an iPad and should have proof read. That should say un-invite not unite.
LikeLike