I can think of only two positives that have emanated from the suicide attacks on our nation.
First, many of our nation's citizens have fallen on their knees before Almighty God to beseech His grace in this time of national despair. Second, we have witnessed a resurgence of patriotism in our nation as people across America have raised Old Glory at their homes, flown the flag on their cars and worn T-shirts, hats and lapel pins declaring their love of country.
However, a few zealots sprinkled across our nation have launched a campaign to extinguish patriotism--even at this critical time of pain in our nation.
In Chapel Hill, N.C., home of the University of North Carolina, the owner of Top of the Hill restaurant was compelled to remove a banner proclaiming "God Bless America, Woe to Our Enemies" after a few people--chiefly some members of the city council--complained.
Councilman Bill Strom told the Herald-Sun newspaper, "Personally, I found the language offensive. I didn't find the 'God Bless America' offensive and appreciate everyone's show of unity. But the implied tone of 'woe to our enemies' is not the message I have been giving my child. Nor do I feel it's an appropriate banner to hang in the middle of downtown Chapel Hill."
Following the report of this incident, Carl Limbacher of NewsMax.com asked, "How come the so-called American Civil Liberties Union screams and moans if something obscene does not receive taxpayer funding, but it never seems to be around when something patriotic is censored? What will it take to convince lily-livered liberals that America does indeed have enemies and must stop coddling them if it is to survive?"
That's a legitimate question, especially at this time when our nation continues to mourn the devastating loss of life in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania as a result of calculated acts of war against America.
Nevertheless, the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, had--just the day prior to the suicide attacks--restricted the flying of the American flag. However, that decision was quickly reversed following the Sept. 11 incidents that rocked our nation. But the anti-American sentiment was disturbingly conspicuous.
In addition, a company in Boca Raton, Fla.--NCCI Holdings Inc.--confiscated employees' flags, saying that Old Glory was actually considered divisive. That decision was also quickly altered after news reports recounted the incident.
At Lehigh University, a campus official reportedly told a bus driver to remove a flag because it might make foreign students "uncomfortable." Again, the school backpedaled on the decision--possibly understanding that the families of the thousands who lost their lives last week were a little more than "uncomfortable."
A principal at a school in Texas reportedly forced a second grader--whose father is in the Army Reserves--to remove an American flag from a shirt. And you guessed it--the school quickly backed down when people learned of its terrible decision.
And students in Middlesex, N.J., needed to secure the legal services of John Whitehead's Rutherford Institute to help them gain the right to hold a "See You at the Pole" prayer event at their school earlier this week.
God bless these individuals who have faced persecution for voicing their love of this land of the free and the home of the brave.
Let us pray that our nation's return to its knees is the beginning of a new dawn of godly fervor in America. And let us pray that the patriotic resurgence we are seeing across America is just the beginning of a prolonged return to national loyalty and devotion to ensuring that we remain a free people.
Those who are proud to be Americans should not have to apologize for it.
