MATHETON

What is the Evangelicalist religious symbol? It is not a headdress, like the Sikh’s. It is not a saffron robe, like the religious Buddhist’s.

I began to think of this today as I read a newsstory. A cashier at a Home Depot store in Georgia was — cashiered for wearing a button that said: One Nation Under God Indivisible. Company policy is that no employee may wear non-store symbols and badges. However, the cashier is suing, claiming religious discrimination. Said his lawyer: “There are federal laws that protect religious expression.”

An analyst — a law professor from nearby — countered: “This sounds more like a political message. Wearing a button of that sort would not easily be described as a traditional form of religious expression like wearing a cross or wearing a yarmulke.”

Such a symbol may not be a tradtional religious garb, and yet it is a perfect Evangelicalist one. Upon consideration, I predict that, if ever Evangelicalism becomes venerable enough to have an accepted “traditional form of religious expression”, it will be — a pin of the American flag.