Pride flies a flag — why don’t the other deadly sins get one?

The first sign of spring is said to be the appearance of a robin. That sign is followed by the first sign that June has arrived: a Pride flag, festooned with what seems to be an ever-increasing number of colors and symbols, hoisted up the flagpole, right under (or alongside) Old Glory.

For as long as most folks living in a civil society can remember, pride and lust have been counted among the infamous list known as the seven deadly sins. The list varies slightly in order and phrasing, but they are: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride.

To my knowledge, only "pride" has a flag designed specifically to celebrate its practice. However, the Pride flag doesn’t just encompass pride — it glorifies lust too — even though you can attach the spirit of pride to any of the other bad behaviors found on the infamous list.

Of course, the Ten Commandments outline the evil of all of these sins, warning of the danger of being controlled by them. Pride, along with the other deadly sins, is spiritually dangerous — and it often carries psychological and physical consequences too.

Flags, of course, are symbolic and used to unite those of similar viewpoint and allegiance. But we are aware that they can also rally people to lethal ends.

What started out decades ago as the statement, "What we do in our bedrooms is our own business," has now morphed into, "Celebrate the many ways we transform your children into our own image and indoctrinate them into our devious lifestyle."

Simply put, evil has become good, and good evil (Isaiah 5:20).

This distortion of God and nature would be comedy to the max if it weren't so pathetic and dangerous.

A bit of lampooning

At the risk of making light of this very serious practice of our downward-sliding nation, might I suggest decadent flags for several of the remaining sins?

The flag for greed would be filled with dollar signs; for sloth, well, that’s easy — a giant sloth! We could pick any of the remaining 11 months that don’t have “official” flags and send one of these beauties up the flagpole.

I had a couple of ideas for gluttony, which I would like to suggest could fly through the entire month of November. Why November? Well, for one thing, we all know what happens on Thanksgiving Day.

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And the official flag for gluttony? Might I offer a colorful, eye-catching beauty that displays a giant glazed donut with sprinkles? Or perhaps even a tempting array of hot dogs? Or better still — both!

The official gluttony flag could flap in the breeze with (dare I say) pride all November long. (Heck, you might even want to keep it flying all through the Christmas holiday season and into Super Bowl Sunday, for that matter!)

Meanwhile, back in reality

As a nation, we need to turn from our dangerous obsession with coddling a variety of evil ways. “Speaking the truth in love,” at a minimum, is suggested by St. Paul (Ephesians 4:15). It’s obvious, though, that we must keep in mind that certain bad habits and practices have become ingrained in our culture, and pushing back against them, even gently, could have unintended consequences.

However, we need not, simply by our silence, encourage an ever-expanding drift into decadence. After all, if it is indeed true that "pride goes before the fall," we are very near the precipice. We must begin — and continue — to pull back.

Certainly, that serious effort begins with prayer to see where the spirit of our loving God leads.

And, hey, there's even a flag for that! George Washington and America’s founders flew “An Appeal to Heaven” banner — which, by the way, I suggest you display every month of the year.

Editor's note: A version of this article appeared originally at American Thinker.