4:00 this morning - I couldn't sleep - and the questions started coming to mind. They are rhetorical - they are not pointed at anyone. They are merely food for thought. They made me do some thinking.
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--Why do we not see such a groundswell of enthusiasm for honoring our ancestors who died in World War I? World War II? The Revolutionary War? Why only the Civil War?
--It is commonly known that the flag was returned to the Statehouse in 1962 as a statement against the civil rights movement. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?
--What would you think if you observed a movement in Germany, of good middle-class people, not extremists or skinheads, who wanted to fly the swastika under the banner of "heritage, not hate"?
--How do you think you might feel about the Confederate flag if you had had to cut a dead family member down from a tree in, say, the 1930s (or have ancestors who had to do so) --a family member who had been murdered there, without due process of law, by vigilantes who acted under that banner?
--Does doing something meaningful for a group of people who have reason to be offended by a symbol, always have to be associated with legitimate fears of a slippery slope?
--Are government-sanctioned symbols, on public property, any different than privately-displayed symbols?
--Have you ever had a meaningful, one-on-one conversation with someone from the "other" race about why the flag means heritage, or why the flag means hate?
--How does this "flag flap" appear to people in other parts of the country and to the world? Does it matter how it appears? Should it matter?
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--Why do we not see such a groundswell of enthusiasm for honoring our ancestors who died in World War I? World War II? The Revolutionary War? Why only the Civil War?
--It is commonly known that the flag was returned to the Statehouse in 1962 as a statement against the civil rights movement. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?
--What would you think if you observed a movement in Germany, of good middle-class people, not extremists or skinheads, who wanted to fly the swastika under the banner of "heritage, not hate"?
--How do you think you might feel about the Confederate flag if you had had to cut a dead family member down from a tree in, say, the 1930s (or have ancestors who had to do so) --a family member who had been murdered there, without due process of law, by vigilantes who acted under that banner?
--Does doing something meaningful for a group of people who have reason to be offended by a symbol, always have to be associated with legitimate fears of a slippery slope?
--Are government-sanctioned symbols, on public property, any different than privately-displayed symbols?
--Have you ever had a meaningful, one-on-one conversation with someone from the "other" race about why the flag means heritage, or why the flag means hate?
--How does this "flag flap" appear to people in other parts of the country and to the world? Does it matter how it appears? Should it matter?
--Crime, prejudice, other flag issues, are real problems. Are they relevant to the topic of taking the flag off the statehouse grounds, or are they red herrings to this issue?
--Is it possible that the roots of this conflict go back to the ill treatment of whites during reconstruction? If so, is that not tantamount to holding a generational grudge? As a Christian, is it possible that holding a hard line on leaving the flag up is actually holding a hard line on taking up another's offense--a historical offense?
--It has been widely stated that the gracious actions of the families of the Emmanuel Nine were what started the groundswell to take down the flag. As a Christian, what is your response to their actions? Was it easy or difficult to acknowledge their leadership during that court hearing? Does a person's response to that question correlate in any way to his response to the Confederate flag issue?
--Does the principle of deference have any place in this matter?
--If taking down the flag might bring about conversation, communication, and better relations between black and white Christians, would taking it down be a worthy move?
--If Jesus were walking in South Carolina as He did in Galilee, what would be his reaction and response to this issue?
--If Jesus were walking in South Carolina as He did in Galilee, what would be his reaction and response to this issue?
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