By Just One Vote
And why Catholics should be outraged

As we all know by now, the US Senate failed to pass, by a single vote, a proposal which would have let Congress ban the desecration of the flag of the United States.

Those in favor of flag burning vary from the "it's a right to free speech" crowd, to those that say that the flag is nothing more than a mere symbol.

To me and millions of others, desecrating the American flag is the moral equivalent of defecating on a photograph of someone's mother. You just don't do that.

But hey... a picture of someone's momma is nothing more than a chemically treated piece of paper, right? Isn't it my right to poop on a pic of mammy and pappy? Or at least, a pic is just a symbol, right?

But anyhow... from the Catholic perspective. We sometimes have non-Catholics ask us about the statuary in our churches. The short answer is; "we love what that statue represents". We don't "love" the statue itself. It's nothing more than a few bits of lumber and plaster thrown together to form a crucifix... chunk of concrete or marble fashioned into the image of a Saint. It's what they represent that we love.

How many Catholics would defecate on a Crucifix.... urinate on a photograph of The Holy Mother... burn a wooden statue of our Patron Saint? The answer's obvious. And the same applies to Americans and our flag.

Personally, I could care less about bunch of woven thread. But I sure do love my flag.

Vir Speluncae Catholicus
MSgt USMC (ret)