Is anything sacred anymore?

The placement of national symbols, particularly the American flag, within Christian places of worship has provoked recurrent controversy. Critics decry it as a profane intrusion of the civil into the sacred, an act of idolatry that compromises the church’s transcendent allegiance to Christ alone. Such objections frequently invoke the regulative principle of worship—the conviction that only elements explicitly commanded or clearly warranted in Scripture may be introduced into corporate worship—or, more loosely, the normative principle, which permits what Scripture does not forbid.

Scripture provides no detailed blueprint for the adornment of New Testament assembly spaces. There is no dominical or apostolic command specifying permissible wall hangings, architectural motifs, or symbolic banners. The early church met in homes, catacombs, and basilicas later adapted from Roman civic use, often incorporating local cultural forms without recorded divine censure. If a rigorous application of the regulative principle is to be pressed against the Stars and Stripes, intellectual honesty demands its consistent application elsewhere: to the cross (prominent in many traditions yet without explicit New Testament prescription as décor), to architectural cruciform designs, to pipe organs, choirs, pulpits, stained glass, or even the very concept of a dedicated “sanctuary” building distinct from the gathered people of G-d.

One cannot selectively brandish the regulative principle like a ceremonial sword only when it suits a particular cultural discomfort. As the Reformers and their heirs recognized, worship must be ordered by Scripture’s commands, principles, and prohibitions; yet the absence of a Levitical handbook for post-Pentecost assemblies grants the church prudent liberty under the Lordship of Christ and the illumination of the Holy Spirit. To insist otherwise is to risk a new legalism that Scripture itself does not authorize.

Biblical Precedent and the Danger of Idolatry
The caution against idolatry remains perennial and weighty. The bronze serpent (Numbers 21) healed by divine appointment yet was later destroyed by Hezekiah when it became an object of superstitious veneration (2 Kings 18:4). The lesson is not that all symbols are inherently dangerous, but that any symbol—religious or civic—can be twisted into an idol when it supplants trust in the living G-d. A flag no more automatically constitutes idolatry than a cross automatically guarantees piety. Both invite discernment: Does the symbol point beyond itself to higher realities (providence, ordered liberty, gratitude for a nation’s blessings), or has it become an end in itself?

The Old Testament tabernacle and temple themselves incorporated symbolic elements—cherubim, pomegranates, palm trees, and colors—drawn from the created order and covenantal history, not raw innovation. These were not neutral but served didactic and memorial purposes under G-d’s explicit direction. In the New Testament era, the church’s liberty in adiaphora (matters indifferent) is broader, governed by charity, edification, and avoidance of stumbling blocks (Romans 14; 1 Corinthians 8–10).

Civic Symbols in Ecclesiastical Context
The American flag, properly displayed according to flag etiquette, occupies a position of honor but not divine worship. It represents a particular political community under G-d—a republic whose founding ideals, however imperfectly realized, were profoundly shaped by Protestant convictions, natural law reasoning, and biblical anthropology. Two-thirds of Revolutionary War fatalities came from Reformed or Calvinistic backgrounds, reflecting a theological milieu that prized ordered liberty, resistance to tyranny, and the rule of law.

Objections to its presence often reveal more about contemporary cultural polarization than consistent ecclesiology. If a national flag is impermissible, what of other symbols of earthly stewardship: memorials to martyrs, plaques honoring benefactors, or even the architectural incorporation of local stone and timber? The church does not exist in cultural abstraction; it is planted amid real peoples, languages, and nations (Revelation 7:9). Gratitude for a constitutional order that has, by historical standards, afforded remarkable religious liberty need not equate to nationalism or statism. It can reflect the same creational principle that leads Christians to sing anthems, recite creeds, or honor parents and governing authorities (Romans 13; 1 Peter 2).

Critics who detect idolatry in Old Glory while tolerating other encroachments of modernity into the assembly would do well to examine their own consistency. One might wryly observe that the same voices decrying a flag sometimes champion forms of “worship” indistinguishable from commercial entertainment—complete with stage lighting, branded slogans, and therapeutic messaging. If the regulative principle is the standard, far more than flags stands condemned. Selective zeal often masks deeper ideological commitments rather than biblical fidelity.

Toward a Principled Liberty
Nothing in Scripture forbids a local congregation from displaying a national flag as a symbol of thankful citizenship under divine providence, provided it is not venerated, does not overshadow explicitly Christian symbols, and does not displace the centrality of Word and Sacrament. Conversely, congregations may abstain for reasons of conscience or contextual witness. Charity and wisdom, not rigid uniformity, should govern (Philippians 2:1–4).

The deeper question is not whether flags belong in sanctuaries, but whether anything remains sacred in an age of desacralization. When the transcendent is collapsed into the immanent—whether through politicized symbols or consumerist worship forms—the church loses her distinct voice. Christians are called to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to G-d what is G-d’s, without conflating the two. A flag rightly understood reminds us that we are sojourners whose ultimate citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20), even as we render grateful, discerning stewardship in the earthly cities where G-d has placed us.

Soli Deo Gloria.
In an era of moral and symbolic confusion, the church must recover both theological depth and cultural courage—avoiding both naive syncretism and reflexive iconoclasm. Prudence, not panic, befits the household of faith.

Soli deo gloria,
Wit. 

Notes

1. Many veterans have no conflict of conscience here upon the earth in which nation any of us most rather live or raise our families. Manmade theocracies failed in the past without checks and balances, and even then, to this day the question of according to what standard is most controversial (church or Sola Scriptura). 
2. Is there an upright vertebra anywhere in the spinal column of America? Stand up like a man, maybe Thomas or Peter might choose to die for the cause greater than any of us by your side, only the World and its worldly citizens exempts its own from the draft to declare men with chests, cowards. Either way, stripes never lead the stars. 
3. Porneia Πορνεία means “prostitution, unchastity, fornication,” and is used “of every kind of unlawful sexual intercourse” – The Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament. What some call social evolution is considered moral regression and no different than animalistic behavior Romans 1, with a major exception, most animals do not tolerate the behaviors or actions of mankind (whatever that means). 
4. Many will scoff, ridicule, 2 Peter 3:3 and persecute us for our beliefs, Psalm 1 fall not into friendships but discern and choose our friends wisely. 
5. U.S. Flag code: Other flags should not overshadow the American Flag in any way. The American Flag should be flown higher than lesser flags. If the flags are displayed on the same level, the American Flag should be flown to the (flag’s own) right of all other flags. The right is a position of prominence.

Guidelines:

• Another nation’s flag shouldn’t be displayed on the same halyard as the American Flag.
• In a group of state, local and/or society flags, the American Flag should be flown highest and in the center.
• The American Flag should be hoisted first and lowered last, when flown with other flags on adjacent staffs.
• If the American Flag is carried in a procession with other flags, it should be to its own right or in the center of a line of flags.
• If a state, local or society flags are flown on the same halyard with the American Flag, the American Flag should be at the top.
• When the American Flag is displayed against a wall with another flag, it should be on the (flag’s own) right with its staff in front of the other flag.
• When displayed with other flags, the size of the American Flag should be larger than the other flags or relatively equal to the size of the largest flag. Other flags should not overshadow the American Flag in any way.
• The American Flag should be flown higher than lesser flags. If the flags are displayed on the same level, the American Flag should be flown to the (flag’s own) right of all other flags. The right is a position of prominence.
• If the flags of other nations are displayed with the American Flag, they should be of equal size and at equal heights on separate staffs at a time of peace. The American Flag should be displayed to the (flag’s own) right but not higher than other national flags.

  Exceptions:

• In any nation the national flag must be placed in a place of prominence. The flag code only applies to flags flown on American soil.
• A church pennant may be flown above the American Flag if a church service is done by naval chaplains at sea for personnel of the Navy. After the service is over, the American Flag must again be placed in the prominent position.
• In foreign waters or to salute a foreign country, the U.S. Navy may fly the country’s national flag on the masthead of the ship. This is not a violation of the flag code because the code only applies to civilians (not the Navy), and also because the stern and gaff of a ship are more prominent positions to fly a flag.
• The United Nations’ headquarters may fly the flags of all 188 member nations in alphabetical order. Although it is technically located within the United States (banks of the East River in Manhattan), the headquarters is owned by all the members of the United Nations, so it is not considered to be American soil.