{"id":6784,"date":"2011-03-21T10:42:42","date_gmt":"2011-03-20T23:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=6784"},"modified":"2011-03-21T10:42:42","modified_gmt":"2011-03-20T23:42:42","slug":"wearing-or-living-national-flags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2011\/03\/21\/wearing-or-living-national-flags\/","title":{"rendered":"Wearing or living national flags?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I have great caution when it comes to discussing national flags. See, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.anglicantas.org.au\/resource-flags\/\">On Flag Poles and Being Up the Wrong Pole<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The attachment to symbols is very real. But the true test of a symbol  is the test of the values and character symbolized. Can the defacing of  a flag, the trampling of a cross, so provoke us that we fail to live by  the values and character of those symbols? Is the substance symbolized,  in fact, real? Can those values be held without the symbols? Can the  values stand on their own merit?<\/p>\n<p>The danger of flag flying is the  transfer of loyalty to the symbol while the community and its values  lie neglected and dying. A failure to nurture the values of a community  results in their slow death. Zealous flag waving mocks the exertion  needed to grow a community and nurture the values for which previous  generations have sacrificed.<\/p>\n<p>Also see, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/national\/leading-australians-start-push-to-sack-union-jack-from-national-flag-20110125-1a4bq.html\">Leading Australians start push to sack Union Jack from national flag<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have great caution when it comes to discussing national flags. See, On Flag Poles and Being Up the Wrong Pole. The attachment to symbols is very real. But the true test of a symbol is the test of the &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2011\/03\/21\/wearing-or-living-national-flags\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6784"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6784"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7282,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6784\/revisions\/7282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}