“At the recent Olympic Games in Tokyo, Dominican athlete Marileidy Paulino (24) celebrated her 400 metres silver medal raising the Dominican flag in one hand and her Bible in the other.”

EvangelicalFocus.Com

I had no idea what the Dominican Republic flag looked like before I saw it for the first time at the Tokyo Olympic Games, but now it gives me nightmares.

The flag of the Dominican Republic features a centered white cross that extends to the edges and divides the flag into four rectangles. Right in the middle, at its heart, is the Coat of Arms, which contains an open Bible topped by a small cross.

As a citizen of a secular democracy, I find any national flag that features a cross and a Bible at its heart an abomination.

There is no separation of church and state in the beautiful Caribbean Island, but why in God’s name would a country that was decimated by disease and slavery when it was invaded by Christopher Columbus and his Christian crusaders in 1492 cherish such a problematic flag?

Paulino is black so why is she waving in celebration a flag that has a cross and a Bible in its center, when the Good Book was used as justification to enslave her black ancestors?

The Bible is holy scripture and as such it belongs in churches, libraries and in private homes, but it’s anathema for it to be depicted in any national flag.