Pete let us in, and I promise you I could hear Roger rolling over in his grave as we entered the First Baptist Church of America -- under that huge American Flag, flying just above the front door. Roger Williams, that is. Yes, the Roger Williams who founded this, the (very) first Baptist Church in America, in 1638. Roger Williams, who was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his vehement insistence on religious freedom -- yes, that those Native Americans ought to be able to worship their spirit ancestors, instead of Jesus, if that's what they chose -- or that the Jews and the Muslims and the Atheists, along with them -- could worship (or not) as they chose. It was a bold, daring, audacious claim for an English Puritan-Separatist-Baptist believer...
It is what put Baptists on the map.
The Baptist churches I most appreciate understand this difficult-to-understand issue of separation between church and state. And one evidence of their understanding is the noticeable lack of an American flag in their sanctuaries (though the flag is an ironically prominent fixture in most Baptist churches these days). It's not at all that these Baptists are un-American, it's that they are so Baptist they recognize that an American flag is a symbol of a nation, not of God, and they recognize that God is not an American, and that Americans have no monopoly on the Divine. As a Christian church, worshiping a universal God, every Christian should be equally welcome... but a visiting Korean Christian (for example), might feel that she is in the wrong place if the church is paying homage to the nation that is not her own. (As might an English Baptist minister serving as a supply preacher for a Charlotte, NC church, while its ministers were on sabbatical!)
But Pete, who is the very nice (and very opinionated) sexton at America's First Baptist Church, told us that he told them that if they removed that American flag (as apparently they recently discussed) -- they would have to find a new sexton. (If I were the pastor I'd be reading sexton resumes!) I don't know how much influence Pete-the-sexton had on the to-fly-or-not-to-fly question. Pete, the former member of America's First Baptist Church. (You know, the church is "too liberal" for Pete these days. He goes to a (real), Independent Baptist, church now. (One which still teaches that the world is only 6,000 years old!)) I don't know how much influence Pete had. But I feel sure that Roger, who would otherwise be proud his church is still standing after almost 400 years, is turning over in his BAPTIST grave, with every flap of Old Glory.
The Baptist churches I most appreciate understand this difficult-to-understand issue of separation between church and state. And one evidence of their understanding is the noticeable lack of an American flag in their sanctuaries (though the flag is an ironically prominent fixture in most Baptist churches these days). It's not at all that these Baptists are un-American, it's that they are so Baptist they recognize that an American flag is a symbol of a nation, not of God, and they recognize that God is not an American, and that Americans have no monopoly on the Divine. As a Christian church, worshiping a universal God, every Christian should be equally welcome... but a visiting Korean Christian (for example), might feel that she is in the wrong place if the church is paying homage to the nation that is not her own. (As might an English Baptist minister serving as a supply preacher for a Charlotte, NC church, while its ministers were on sabbatical!)
But Pete, who is the very nice (and very opinionated) sexton at America's First Baptist Church, told us that he told them that if they removed that American flag (as apparently they recently discussed) -- they would have to find a new sexton. (If I were the pastor I'd be reading sexton resumes!) I don't know how much influence Pete-the-sexton had on the to-fly-or-not-to-fly question. Pete, the former member of America's First Baptist Church. (You know, the church is "too liberal" for Pete these days. He goes to a (real), Independent Baptist, church now. (One which still teaches that the world is only 6,000 years old!)) I don't know how much influence Pete had. But I feel sure that Roger, who would otherwise be proud his church is still standing after almost 400 years, is turning over in his BAPTIST grave, with every flap of Old Glory.
Of course, Pete is feeling pretty Baptist in his position. Sure wish the equally opinionated Roger (the real Baptist) were here to have a conversation with him!
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