If some of the students at Covenant College want to bow the knee and pray during the National Anthem, I have no problem with this.  My problem is that they should be doing it for another reason. America has legalized both abortion and homosexual marriage.  These are sins defined in terms of God’s law and not in terms of class and racial conflict.  These sins are common to all races and all classes.   

Kneeling and praying by a few Covenant College basketball team players during the National Anthem now puts our denominational college (Presbyterian Church in America) on the popular cutting-edge of political activism.  It seems to be happening everywhere since Colin Keapernick first patented the move before a San Francisco 49’s football game.

If burning the American flag is considered free-speech, then refusing to stand during the National Anthem should be considered free-speech too. The official College spoke-persons say the students mean no disrespect to American soldiers who serve in the military.  We should take them at their word.

My issue is not that they are bowing the knee and praying during the National Anthem, but that they are doing it for the wrong reason.  In my view, these students are the products of the new — and yet old — political thought which posits the definition of sin in terms of class and racial struggle. We used to call it Marxism.

Today, the old Marxism comes clothed in terms like racial hegemony and income inequality.  The old white-man has ruled too long, and he has suppressed the rights of minorities too much.   We are guilty.  Such students suggest that the populous is ignorant of this truth. They have a responsibility to inform us all through drama.  This is the way I read this updated form of Marxism.

However, the danger is that Marxism is like Islam.  It always brings war with it wherever it goes.  It never brings peace.  Youth is usually blind to this reality.  This symbolic physical position will not promote the healing of any racial divide — it will only exacerbate it.  Many less-privileged persons who were never able to enjoy the blessings of a Christian College Campus will not respond positively — to say the least!  Probably, the leadership at Covenant College is right now laboring under damage control.

If some of the students at Covenant College want to bow the knee and pray during the National Anthem, I have no problem with this.  My problem is that they should be doing it for another reason. America has legalized both abortion and homosexual marriage.  These are sins defined in terms of God’s law and not in terms of class and racial conflict.  These sins are common to all races and all classes.

If these students want to follow the pattern of protest set by Kaepernick, let them bow and pray because America has become a slaughter house for babies and a cesspool for ungodliness.  Let them reach for God’s law to define sin, and not to latent Marxism.   Marxism always brings tyranny.  God’s law is the only pathway to freedom in any nation.

Larry E. Ball is a retired minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is now a CPA. He lives in Kingsport, Tennessee.