Christians are worrying. Conspiracy theorists are crying out. Activists are plotting. Facebookers are facebooking. Atheists are smirking. And some NBC editor is sweating nervously. What’s going on?
One Nation Under WHAT?! NBC removes “Under God” from pledge!
It all happened during NBC’s coverage of the U.S. Open. The major news network aired an introductory montage with patriotic scenes, and a group of children in a classroom reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. The problem was, in the pledge, the phrase “under God” was dropped, twice.
Full Length NBC U.S. Open Video:
Um, Did You Forget Something?
Obviously, with millions of Christians watching the show, the exclusion of this phrase wasn’t going to be ignored. Sure enough, Facebook and Twitter lit up with a cry of outrage. “Time to remove this anti-American network from our airwaves!” “Boycott NBC!” “Blasphemy!” “They hate Jesus and the flag!” “Absolute disgusting display of America and Americans by excluding under God in the Pledge of Allegiance!” “Secular, left wing craziness!”
Wow.
So, maybe NBC didn’t just forget something. Maybe they actually intentionally removed the reference to God. Why?
“We’re Sorry, Okay?”
Soon after the social media storm, NBC’s announcer Dan Hicks issued an apology: “Regrettably, a portion of the Pledge of Allegiance that was in that feature was edited out. It was not done to upset anyone, and we’d like to apologize to those of you who were offended by it.”
But a whole lot of people were offended by it. Chopping “under God” from the Pledge crosses the line.
This Is Nothing New
The NBC brouhaha may be a big outrage, but it’s nothing new. Scripture tells us that the truth of Jesus Christ will be offensive to disobedient people (1 Peter 1:8). How should the church respond to this event?
We should take a look at personal lives. It’s easy to become outraged when a news network cuts out our favorite words in the Pledge of Allegiance. But how often do we cut out the reality of God in our daily lives? How often do we merrily go along our way, without a second thought about what it means to be “under God”?
The event also brings up some intriguing, if not controversial, questions—questions about religious freedom, about the church, about our attitude as pilgrims in this world.
- When NBC edited out “under God” did they only offend Christians, or did they possibly offend Muslims, Mormons, or Jehovah’s Witnesses, who also claim the phrase, “Under God.” Or is the American “God” the One True God of the Bible? If so, how does this mesh with religious freedom?
- Is America a “Christian” nation? Should it be? Can we aggressively promote our brand of Christian politics, while at the same time exult in our religious freedom—and does that include the freedom to be an atheist, Buddhist, or Wiccan?
- Should we spend time discussing national politics in our pulpits, or should we instead focus on a different “political” theme—the Kingdom of God? And what, really, is the Kingdom of God? Does it mean that we should all vote for fiscally conservative, politically conservative, pro-life Republican Christians. Or will it do just fine to have a liberal, big-government, non-Christian, pro-choice leader, who still protects religious freedom?
What do you think?