Nike's advertising campaign featuring English soccer star Wayne Rooney painted with St. George's Cross has sparked an uproar. When England figures out that the cross on its flag symbolizes Christ, and a Christian martyr murdered because of his allegiance to Christ, the outrage will certainly grow! Soccer aside, there is no national religion in England. St. George's Cross is a reminder that this wasn't always so. It's also a reminder that England was once a nation.

The Nike advertisement, with Rooney's bloody, warrior pose, is an inconvenient historical allusion to the appropriation of St. George's Cross as a national symbol during the Crusades. The King of England, another pointless appendage, used to be known as the "Defender of the Faith." And sure, there's still a "Church of England," but it seems to have as much to do with Christianity as Prince Charles has to do with defending the faith. Not only does the English national flag represent the Christian faith, it represents a fighting Christian faith. Can't have that in multicultural England Great Britain, can you?

It's not that the English are afflicted with a particularly bad case of cultural amnesia. Switzerland, Greece, and all of Scandanavia incorporate the cross of Christ in their national flags. Christmas and Easter aside, does anyone go to church in, say, Helsinki any longer? These flags are relics, not unlike the Parthenon, of an earlier time, a distant faith.

According to a recent survey, a majority of the population of Great Britain reports "never" or "practically never" attending church. What, other than the past, do the crosses of Saints George, Andrew, and Patrick stand for in the Union Jack? The Cross of St. George certainly doesn't represent the people who live in England now--not the Sikhs at the airport, not the Pakistani "chippers" hawking yucky late-night snacks to drunks, and, most interestingly, not the ethnic English who have turned from the ancient faith.

But that's not all the English have turned their backs on. "I believe that when a country loses so much respect for itself that it can no longer even be identified by its historically correct name, insecurity and lack of respect filter down to its inhabitants," actress Jackie Collins wrote last year of the rage of substituting the inclusive "Britain" for the exclusive "England." Collins noted that the loss of national identity was breeding "a whole country of self-loathers." Unfortunately, when you try to make the whole world England, England becomes the whole world's homeland. Such a mish-mash of people could never stand for St. George's Cross, and the English are far too aware of manners to inject religion into mixed company. Thus, the English national flag is rarely spotted. Perhaps someday the Union Jack, which St. George's Cross is camouflaged within, will face a similar fate of obscurity, to be supplanted by insignia of national identity of all the peoples of the English Empire who now call London home.

The English are a stubborn people. They retain a monarchy without power just for the symbolism. They call themselves "England" after abolishing England as a national entity in favor of morphing together with Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland into something called the "United Kingdom" (It is neither!). And, of course, the English fly a standard--on the rare occasions (usually during World Cup time) when they do fly St. George's Cross--that doesn't represent them.

There is something pleasingly conservative in all this. Waving St. George's Cross in Notting Hill, like reading the Second Amendment in a Yale constitutional law class, makes people remember their national heritage, an inheritance that's apt to make some squeamish. Be ashamed of Cromwell. Be ashamed of the Spice Girls. But be ashamed of Shakespeare? Newton? Thomas Becket? Be ashamed of the flag that flew over their heads?

St. George's Cross gets taken out from the attic every four years to rally England during the World Cup, just as the Second Amendment gets unredacted every four years to win votes at election time. As American courts no longer recognize a "right" to keep and bear arms, the English no longer recognize the meaning of that peculiar cross on their flag. Did the universal symbol for Jesus Christ appear on their flag by coincidence? The things most obvious, like the meaning of a giant cross standing alone on a white flag, are often the things least understood.

So what would be a more fitting emblem for an English national flag? A giant soccer ball? Big Ben? Doctor Who's Tardis? A shadow outline of John Cleese doing a silly walk?

Perhaps this last one works best. The only thing sillier than a national flag for a nation-that-isn't, is a nation-that-isn't flying a flag that represents some other nation, but not their nation (that is no longer a nation anyhow).

Looks like every country with a cross on the flag will advance to the next round of the World Cup. And countries with Islamic stuff on their flags, like Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Iran, will not advance.

Great post Dan. I love the warrior Christian pose. My lord is the Daily Mail article pussified though. It is all cringing worry about giving offense and refulsion at the very idea of a war-like pose.

"War-like" is not a pejorative. War is good or bad, depending on whether it is offensive or defensive. England and the U.S. went into Iraq to interdict conspiracy to commit murder, just a we will soon have to do again in Iran. Interdicting conspiracy to commit murder is a species of defense. It is good war.

Christian war, when it is truly Christian, is always good war. Christianity does not aggress. It just kicks ass when the Islamofascists or the Hitlero-fascists or the commie-fascists aggress, and a darned good thing too. Without the Crusades, the Islamofascists would have taken over Europe a millenium ago, and we'd all be living in mud huts.

Good to see. We've got to keep sticking up for the England. Otherwise within a generation we'll all be singingn "Sharia for the U.K."

Very well put, Dan.

I thought I was on to something regarding national identity, and you trumped me by a mile with your much better focus on cultural identity.

Anyway, my post from yesterday, "Identity Crisis: Much Adu About Everything", is still somewhat related to this one, and may be found here:
http://eric.langborgh.com/?p=343

Basically, the post is my reaction against MLS star Freddy Adu and others who somehow find it difficult to cheer for their own country's team - the USA - in the World Cup and other sporting events.

Thanks,
--Eric

What is going on with the Western countries that only a generation ago were the dominant world powers and relinquished their sovereignty to no one?

England and the U.S. sadly appear to be losing their identities and crumbling as nations that were once models of economic and military strength and social stability.

Members of the Greatest Generation must be disgusted or are rolling in their graves.

Who are the "greatest generation" ..is it parents of baby-boomers? (this is a genuine question)

Yes.

Dan, I haven't had a chance to congratulate you, so: best wishes and congrats!

I have nothing to add to your great post.

"Throwback to the Crusades"

Yes, heaven forbid the peoples of Christian Europe return to a time when they were willing to defend themselves against Islamic imperialism, instead of bowing and scraping at its feet.

The "greatest generation" - and I apologize ahead of time if this comes off as too "lofty" - ... it's up to each generation to become as great as it can be.

Great Post, Dan!

ASDF, we're not "losing" our National identity. We're allowing it to be slowly torn from us, like a scab slowly picked. A little more each year, in increments, so the sheep that were once citizens don't take notice.

I am reminded of Chesterton's words (almost everything reminds me of something Chesterton said) "War is not the best way of settling differences; it is the only way of preventing their being settled for you."