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Viewpoint from Rev Donna Dodson 30/08/2024
 Rev Donna Dodson
Methodist Minister: Norfolk Broads Methodist Circuit
What would St George think?
We have all seen people wearing the St Georges flag, sometimes at sporting events and sometimes when protesting or even rioting
Seeing people throwing bricks, harassing and intimidating people who look foreign to them, upsetting and damaging communities, picking on migrants and asylum seekers ….. and wearing the St Georges flag seems a bit ironic to me
 St George is our English Patron Saint, but he was not English, in fact he never even came here. He was born in Turkey and is the patron saint of many places and people, including: Albania, Bulgaria, Ethiopia, Greece, Georgia, Portugal, Romania, Syria, Lebanon, and Rio de Janeiro and the Scouts! He was killed in Palestine. He is respected by Christians, Druze, as well as some Muslims as a martyr of monotheistic faith
So how does his flag come to adorn the backs of people when their frustrations in life get expressed in hate and harm to people of other nationalities and faiths? It does not compute
What would Jesus think?
Another irony in the use of a Christian flag while terrorising people for being Muslims. For a start they also respect Jesus as a great prophet and share many values and beliefs with Christians. And it was Jesus who taught his followers to love their neighbours and even their enemies
Seeing the hatred, and sometimes delight, on the faces of rioters, as others are deliberately harassed, bullied and terrorised, disturbs me. You can’t get much further away from the spirit of Jesus
So, in response to those who call ‘we want our country back’, ‘we want our streets back’, (while they themselves are making our country and our streets unsafe!)
I say,
I want our flag back, I want our faith back, I want common sense, respect, and compassion back. Let’s stand together not throwing bricks but showing kindness. St George and Jesus would be pleased with that!
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