A controversial “Appeal to Heaven” flag that has recently become associated with the “Stop the Steal” movement and Christian nationalism was flown above the Small Business Administration (SBA) agency last week in Washington, DC.
On June 11, Kelly Loeffler, the former senator from Georgia and current administrator of the SBA, participated in a ceremony where a new flag of the United States was raised over the agency’s headquarters. Just beneath that flag, on what appeared to be the same halyard, was an Appeal to Heaven flag. Sources tell WIRED that the “Appeal to Heaven” flag was raised for less than a day.
Though the flag’s roots date to the Revolutionary War, in recent years it has become a popular symbol for the far right. The Appeal to Heaven flag was waved by January 6 rioters at the Capitol in 2021 and has become associated with President Donald Trump’s supporters who deny the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. The flag has also been linked to Christian nationalists, who believe that the US should be a Christian nation rather than a secular one.
“That the Appeal to Heaven flag is being flown on a government building alongside the American flag should be shocking to anyone who doesn’t wish to live in a theocracy,” says Jon Lewis, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. “The contemporary usage of the Appeal to Heaven flag is synonymous with Christian nationalism, full stop.”
“Those who carried the Appeal to Heaven flag to the Capitol on January 6 did so because they truly believed they had the opportunity to inject Christian fundamentalism into the very foundation of our democracy, and the image of the same flag on the SBA will give them ample evidence they succeeded,” Lewis adds.
Other Republicans have previously shared their support for the Appeal to Heaven flag. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has displayed the flag outside of his office, and the flag was controversially flown outside of associate justice of the Supreme Court Samuel Alito’s vacation home in New Jersey. In an interview with the Associated Press, Johnson said he did not know that the flag was associated with election deniers. In a letter to lawmakers last year, Alito said the same thing. (Alito also came under fire for the flying of an upside-down American flag at his home in Virginia. An upside-down flag is a distress signal that has, in recent years, become associated with right-wing protesters).
In a June 11 post on her X account, Loeffler wrote, “Today at SBA’s Flag Day Ceremony, we proudly raised a new AMERICAN MADE flag over our headquarters in Washington. It is a privilege to serve under its Stars and Stripes – on behalf of the 34 million small businesses who represent the best of America.” The post, which includes a photograph of the Appeal to Heaven flag and photographs of Loeffler and others seemingly looking up at both flags, is still up.