Ed Brayton is a freelance writer and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Boltgirl has the scoop on another new controversy involving the flag, this time the words spoken when a flag is folded at some military funerals. The Air Force recently changed the ritual because the old text was explicitly religious. The ritual folding of the flag has 13 folds and there is a text that goes along with each fold. The 2nd fold represented "Symbol of our belief in the eternal life." What of those who don't believe in eternal life? Fold 4 included:
Represents our weaker nature, for as American citizens trusting in God, it is to him we turn in times of peace as well as in times of war for his divine guidance.
Really? I don't and last I checked I was an American citizen. Number 6 just has trite nonsense:
Represents where our hearts lie. It is with our heart that we pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
No, it is with our heart that we pump blood to our brain; it is with our brain that we are able to pledge anything at all. And I certainly do not pledge allegiance to any "nation under God" because I don't believe any such nation exists. Folds 11 and 12 are even worse:
11. In the eyes of a Hebrew citizen, represents the lower portion of the seal of King David and King Solomon, and glorifies, in their eyes, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.12. In the eyes of a Christian citizen, represents an emblem of eternity and glorifies, in their eyes, God the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost.
And how about in the eyes of all the other citizens? I guess they don't matter. There's more at the link above.
Politics
Comments
Well, this is just another piece of compelling evidence that the US was founded as a Christian nation. Flag folding ceremonies trump constitutional protections.
Posted by: TomMil | October 29, 2007 9:17 AM
Posted by: George Herbert Walker Bush | October 29, 2007 9:19 AM
As a Christian, I have problems with this from the other direction. What ever happened to the understanding that one should not make oaths in the name of God? I also believe that the flag represents our secular nation. And if they want to go back to the God of Abraham, shouldn't the Muslim faith be included?
Posted by: Rev. AJB | October 29, 2007 10:45 AM
I wonder how old the 'old text' really was. IIRC, the quoted part of the Pledge of Allegiance has only contained the phrase "under God" since ~ 1950?
Posted by: qetzal | October 29, 2007 10:56 AM
Yep, the "under god" part of the pledge was only added during the cold war so Americans could distance ourselves from the godless communists. Ironically, Halloween, as we know it today, was re-imagined at about this time, if I'm not mistaken.
p.s. the founders, for whom all this "patriotism" crap is justified, fought a war against tyranny and imperialism. By that definition, anyone, no matter what their religious affiliation, who doesn't oppose the Bush administration is not a patriot. Period.
Posted by: Scott Radtke | October 29, 2007 11:27 AM
Look, I'm all for reasonable courtesy WRT our country's flag: I know how to fold it, I don't let it touch the ground, and burning it as a gesture of protest is just plain babyish -- but "a text that goes along with each fold?!" Who writes this stuff? Our flag cult is one if the most pathetically unhinged aspects of American political culture. Do you know someone wrote an entire ritual (published online) for the disposal of worn-out flags? It's almost as tedious as a Catholic High Mass!
Posted by: Raging Bee | October 29, 2007 11:56 AM
The origins of the flag-folding text are shrouded in mystery. I found one reference to it having been written by "a retired Navy chaplain," but I'm still convinced it was a couple of guys down at the Legion hall bar scribbling stuff on a napkin to read at a funeral the next day. After two too many boilermakers.
Posted by: boltgirl | October 29, 2007 11:59 AM
boltgirl:
I'm with you. Very few people ever write anything expecting it to go down in history as some incredibly important text. I'd say your assertion is about as likely as any other explanation.
Posted by: Patrick | October 29, 2007 12:57 PM
Scott Radkte mentioned Halloween as coming into its own in the era of the 1950s. If I recall correctly, the modern type of celebration is an artifact of the great Depression. Herbert Hoover asked the nation (in 1930?) to celebrate the holiday in a spirit of joy and fun, rather than the malicious "tricks" that were prevalent up to that time. Proving once again that Americans can take anything and turn it into an orgy of excess.
Posted by: kehrsam | October 29, 2007 1:30 PM
Only recently did I become aware of this "ritual" that has been attached to the folding of the flag. I was an enlisted Marine for 6 years and a Navy Chaplain for 27 years and never in my active duty career did I ever have any experience with or knowledge of this foolishness. This is the work of some sentimental misguided patriotism. It does not exist in any official liturgy or order of service regarding military funerals or memorial services. It certainly would never be a part of folding the flag at evening colors. In my opinion, it trivializes and cheapens the macrocosmic symbolism inherent in the flag as symbol. While I am a Christian and make no apology for being a Christian, I am ashamed of and embarrassed at what postures itself as Christianity in the public square today. The evangelical, fundamentalist brand of Christianity that has inserted itself into American politics is a metastasizing social cancer that seeks to erode the very foundation of American democracy. I am reminded of Harry Emerson Fosdick's sermon, "Shall The Fundamentalists Win?" preached during the fundamentalist/modernist controversy of the early 20th century. The fundamentalists were, of course, rabidly anti-Roman Catholic because of what they perceived as the absolute power of the Pope. Fosdick said, "If they (fundamentalists) had their way, within the Church, they would set up in Protestantism a doctrinal tribunal more rigid than the Pope's." The end result of all this sentimental foolishness and insistence that America was founded as a Christian nation is an attempt to coerce politicians to structure the laws of the land in absolute favor of this perverted view of Christianity. The Gospel of Jesus Christ knows nothing of this kind of political chicanery and jousting for temporal, secular power. But make no mistake about it! There is great danger in the power that religious zealots wield over the average citizenry through the invocation of religious and patriotic sentimentality.
Posted by: CAPT Norm Holcomb, CHC, USN (Ret) | October 29, 2007 2:12 PM
Amen.
Posted by: Scott Radtke | October 29, 2007 3:17 PM
Thank you, Capt. Holcomb. Well said.
Posted by: BruceH | October 29, 2007 9:04 PM
My brother-in-law, an airforce veteran and reservist, died of natural causes last year. There was a full honour guard, including salute, at his funeral.
Other than a quick few words and salute to his wife there were no words spoken during the flag folding ceremony.
Posted by: NoAstronomer | October 29, 2007 9:48 PM
Excuse the stupid question: how can a series of folds on a flag symbolize so many great things? I could understand the number 13 being associated with the original 13 States (hey, why not 50, then ?) but with eternal life? "our weaker nature"? Mother's Day? womanhood? father? Why not a tribute to apple pie, baseball and the Ford T? And then a soldier would walk 3 steps, to honor the Holy Trinity, and then seven, to honor the Seven Dwarves? Does everything has to carry some silly bit of meaning? Will a guy have to blow his nose at some point, in order to symbolize the icky mucus of enemy forces being chased away by the clean air of pride and courage?
Am I the only one to find all this silly? Or do I lack a sense of symbolism???
Posted by: Christophe Thill | October 30, 2007 6:19 AM
Recent controversy? This is old -- it's astounding how these hoaxes keep coming back, isn't it?
Here, I've got most of the details on why the supposed ceremony isn't official, here:
http://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2006/07/19/fisking-a-flag-fold-flogging/
Here's the story on the new, much more accurate ceremony the Air Force officially pushes:
http://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2006/11/06/news-coverage-of-new-flag-ceremony-for-air-force/
Here's where the American Legion defends the erroneous version:
http://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2006/08/02/flag-ceremony-update-2/
The first time I wrote down the old hoax about Madalyn Murray O'Hare running a petition to shut down religious broadcasting was 1974. I collected it for at least three years after her death. A good hoax just won't die.
Posted by: Ed Darrell | October 30, 2007 7:38 PM
As best I've been able to determine, it was written by a chaplain at the Air Force Academy for something other than a funeral service. At one point, from references I've been given, it was available at a website connected with the Air Force Academy. Because of this connection, the Air Force now has a semi-official, commended flag folding story that is scrupulously accurate, gives kudos to the Air Force and other military branches, pays tribute to Americans' better actions, and is much different from the version cited here, especially with respect to faith. The new version respects faith, and doesn't smear it on its sleeve.
Posted by: Ed Darrell | October 30, 2007 11:15 PM
http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1406
This (press release from Veteran's Affairs on Tuesday) seems to suggest that the family of the deceased can have whatever they want read at the funeral, whether it's the 13-point religious script, another script that is religious or non-religious, or nothing at all. In any case, it is up to the family to request a reading and provide the script for what they want read.
That seems to me to be the most sensible thing to do - I don't want the government requiring or prohibiting anything at my funeral; it should be up to me and my family.
Could it be that was their (Dept. Veteran's Affairs) intent all along, and this clarification is to stop some of the religious zealots from claiming it was a ban on speaking about God or Christianity at funerals?
Posted by: Tim | November 1, 2007 12:28 PM