I am curious would our liberal contingent stand and sing the national anthem? Syskatine, David Allen, Pilt, Cowboyjd, cup?
If I believed that a god sent his god-son to die for me, so that the god-dad would forgive me for not being compliant with his commands,and the god-dad commanded me to worship him, and he was a self described "jealous God" then I would probably refrain from honoring or worshipping other institutions when it's time to worship the god-dad. I would probably not flirt with inadvertently worshipping or showing reverence for something other than that which will keep me alive and happy for eternity. If you really believe the bible and it's narrative, maybe the whole Van Halen for Jesus for our own entertainment and honoring secular government and man's institutions in a setting to honor god isn't the smart move. All that focusing on earthly government and politics will divide and pollute the spiritual brotherhood. Priorities, people? Why would any spiritual leadership with their eye truly on spiritual matters allow the poison of secular politics into a church? Ya'll have any idea what government has done to man? It is inherently the exercise of power and as Ragnar says, power attracts the worst.
Personally, I am getting to dislike imagery and symbolism as a surrogate for thoughtful discourse or debate. I am weary of dumb people expressing their feelings with symbols instead of communicating ideas with words. Often those symbols communicate something they are afraid to put into words, too.
The flag means different things to different people. I personally don't have a problem with a national anthem or something that is defined to recalibrate our thankfulness and mindfulness of what we share, but we shouldn't be offended when other people that are on the short end of the American experience don't share our enthusiasm. If you force people to embrace symbolism, get ready for a diverse range of reactions. The people that demanded conformity will probably be unhappy with the result at some point, at least in this country.