Far-Right 'Appeal to Heaven' Flag Flown Above Government Agency in DC

[highplainsdem]

Source: Wired

A controversial “Appeal to Heaven” flag that has recently become associated with the “Stop the Steal” movement and Christian nationalism was flown above the Small Business Administration (SBA) agency last week in Washington, DC.

On June 11, Kelly Loeffler, the former senator from Georgia and current administrator of the SBA, participated in a ceremony where a new flag of the United States was raised over the agency’s headquarters. Just beneath that flag, on what appeared to be the same halyard, was an Appeal to Heaven flag. Sources tell WIRED that the “Appeal to Heaven” flag was raised for less than a day.

Though the flag’s roots date to the Revolutionary War, in recent years it has become a popular symbol for the far right. The Appeal to Heaven flag was waved by January 6 rioters at the Capitol in 2021 and has become associated with President Donald Trump’s supporters who deny the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. The flag has also been linked to Christian nationalists, who believe that the US should be a Christian nation rather than a secular one.

“That the Appeal to Heaven flag is being flown on a government building alongside the American flag should be shocking to anyone who doesn't wish to live in a theocracy,” says Jon Lewis, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. “The contemporary usage of the Appeal to Heaven flag is synonymous with Christian nationalism, full stop.”

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Read more: https://www.wired.com/story/far-right-appeal-to-heaven-flag-sba-government-agency-dc/