On a regular basis, some Republican politician introduces a constitutional amendment that would allow the government to ban the "desecration" of the American flag. The immediate target is flag burning, but the idea that the flag can be "desecrated" implies that it is "sacred" to begin with; thus, the amendment is less about protecting the flag and more about promoting a religious conception of the American state.

In Free for All: Defending Liberty in America Today, Wendy Kaminer writes:

[S]anctification of the flag reflects some of the more shameful characteristics of American culture: nativism, jingoism, and faith-based nationalism that portrays God as a virtual American. ... The first campaigns for flag-desecration legislation reflected a cult of the flag inspired by the Civil War. When the Confederate army fired on the flag at Fort Sumter in 1861, it gave the Union a powerful rallying symbol and ushered in a new period of flag idolatry. Volunteers pledged their lives to the stars and stripes, in the belief that it symbolized not just the nation, but also the kingdom of God.

Magazines glorified loyalty to our “sacred flag,” which was said to remind us that we are born “not of the flesh but of God.” ... Some thirty years later... an advocate for flag desecration laws declared, “Three sacred jewels — the Bible, the Cross, and the Flag — command the national reverence.”

One of the most fundamental problems with attempts to ban “desecration” of the American flag is the vague and amorphous nature of what might qualify as “desecration” in the first place. Defenders obviously have things like burning the flag in mind, but it’s impossible that the laws would be limited to just that an nothing else (and even if they were — what qualifies as a “flag”? Must it be made of cloth, for example?)

It is instructive to note that laws controlling the use of the flag didn’t first appear until the late 1800s and they were aimed primarily at “commercial exploitation” of the flag. The flag had become such a holy symbol to people that the government wanted to prohibit its use in advertising, like for the sale of flour or household goods. It might seem strange that this would be a problem, given how common the use of the flag in advertisements is today, but it’s true.

Because of that, we should perhaps welcome the commercial exploitation of the flag. Every time someone uses the flag to sell a used car or puts one on a pair of underwear, it’s a direct refutation of the idea that the flag should be revered as something sacred. Commercial speech typically has fewer protections than other forms of speech, but this is an example of why that may not always be such a wise situation.

[Y]ou might wonder about the mental stability of people who regard the flag as sentient and obsess about folding it properly, taking it down at sunset, or never letting it touch the ground. You might ask how many times a day they wash their hands. Repetitive, ritualistic behavior does seem a lot less peculiar when it is an expression of religious devotion. We expect people to kiss the Torah or the cross.

In fact, we may hope that devotion to the higher authority represented by religion will inspire people to question the authority of government, which is why religion serves us best when it keeps its distance from the state. We should shudder when people kiss the flag, transforming a national emblem into a vessel of the divine.

It’s ironic that those who are most vociferous in their support of laws to ban desecration of the American flag are also those who seem most likely to portray themselves as highly religious. Mostly Christian, though, they are arguably violating their own religious dictates against creating idols. For a Christian, nothing should be holy aside from God — and the American flag is certainly not “of God,” except perhaps for those Christian nationalists who have come to see America and Christianity as fused into one, but to the detriment of both.

 

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