By REV. DR. JOHN HATCHER
Religion Columnist

The Georgia flag issue. It does matter to me. I'm white, but my color has nothing to do with it, for or against. I'm the grandson of a Confederate soldier, but that does not have anything to do with it. Come to think of it, however, it may give me more of a right to be heard.

My grandfather, John Bowen (born 1835), enlisted in the Confederate States Army through Co. K, the Fifth Regiment Infantry of Texas. After the war, he moved to Georgia and made a family. Outliving his first wife, he married my grandmother and made another family including my mother who was born in 1911 when he was 79 years old. Wow!

The Georgia flag offends many of us. And it's time that we correct some of our forefathers' mistakes. It was not until the late 1950s that the Georgia Legislature decided to add an unmistakable part of the Confederate banner to the Georgia flag. Why? Because it was one big way that Legislators could protest the growing federal unrest with discrimination practiced so unapologetically in the south.

There's a spiritual issue here. Jesus said if your eye offends you, pluck it out. If there is something among Christians and this something offends a goodly portion, then something should be done. If my approval of the Georgia flag as it flies now is an offense to some of the Body of Christ, why should I hesitate one second in changing it. You may respond, “Well, they—meaning African-Americans— shouldn't get all upset about it.” Why should they not be upset? If it reminded you of your grandparents standing on an auction block to the highest bidder, would that not upset you? If it reminded you of inferior restroom facilities, separate and unequal schools, and that your grandparents always—always—had to walk behind a white person, would that not upset you?

I'm not appealing to those who are not of the Judeo-Christian covenantal community. But I am appealing to people of the Book, Old or New or both. The Georgia flag needs to reflect all of Georgia.

But some have said it's an economic issue. One man said to me, “Do you know how many millions of dollars it would take to change the flag, official seals, state stationary?” Southern plantation owners also asked, “Do you know how much it would cost us to free all our slaves?”

I have a sneaking feeling, however, it is not about money. Nobody brought that issue up when the state changed the flag in the 50s. It was prejudice and racism that prompted the change then, and I fear the same forces keep us from changing now.

We have a long way to go to undo the pain and suffering wrought this country through slavery. It would be a good thing if the white and black majority of Christian Georgians could pluck the rebel flag out of our state flag. It would be a good thing, wouldn't it!

The Rev. Dr. John Hatcher is pastor of River's Edge Community Church in Fayetteville.

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