When The New York Times revealed that the “Appeal to Heaven” flag had been displayed outside Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s New Jersey beach house, the controversy was largely framed around the flag’s connection to the “Stop the Steal” movement that denies the results of the 2020 presidential election.
But to Americans United and those who study Christian Nationalism, the black-lettered flag featuring a green pine tree on a white background is a well-known symbol for those who believe the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation whose laws must continue to privilege white conservative Christians.
“The Appeal to Heaven flag that flew at Justice Alito’s vacation home is the flag of the Christian Nationalist movement in America, the endpoint of which is nothing less than the toppling of our democracy,” AU President and CEO Rachel Laser said in a media statement. “Christian Nationalists believe that the United States should be a Christian theocracy.”
“This is a huge deal,” Andrew L. Seidel, AU’s vice president of strategic communications, posted on social media when the news of Alito’s flag display broke. “The Appeal to Heaven flag was all over the [Jan. 6, 2021,] insurrection and comes out of explicitly Christian Nationalist spaces. Sam Alito is professing his Christian Nationalism.”
Also called the pine tree flag, the “Appeal to Heaven” flag dates back to 1775 when several colonial ships flew it during the American Revolution. The pine tree design was a common symbol of colonial New England. The “Appeal to Heaven” phrase was drawn from philosopher John Locke’s interpretation of people’s right to revolt.
Much like the Revolutionary War-era Gadsden flag (the yellow flag featuring a rattlesnake and the phrase “Don’t Tread on Me”), the “Appeal to Heaven” flag in recent years has been co-opted by far-right, anti-democratic movements.
The modern repurposing of the “Appeal to Heaven” flag has been traced back nearly a decade to a leader in the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) movement, a particularly virulent form of Christian Nationalism. It’s also called dominionism or the Seven Mountain Mandate because adherents are called to take dominion over seven spheres of influence in society, including the government.
Dutch Sheets, a NAR preacher from Ohio, began adopting the flag and the “Appeal to Heaven” phrase as a symbol of this movement. In 2015, he launched a nationwide prayer tour and published a book titled An Appeal to Heaven: What Would Happen If We Did It Again. He wrote: “Rally to the flag. God has resurrected it for such a time as this. Wave it outwardly: wear it inwardly. Appeal to heaven daily for a spiritual revolution that will knock out the Goliaths of our day.”
Sheets began presenting the flag to public officials and political power brokers, urging them to display it as a sign of loyalty to this Christian Nationalist movement. In 2015, the far-right website Breitbart published a photo of former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin of Alaska holding the flag with Sheets.
Since then, a slew of politicians have displayed the “Appeal to Heaven” flag. U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) hung the flag outside his House office after he was elevated to Speaker last fall. U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wisc.) and Doug Mastriano, a Pennsylvania state senator and failed gubernatorial candidate, have flown the flag. So has Leonard Leo, the key architect of the ultra-conservative takeover of the Supreme Court.
In the days after news broke of Alito displaying the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) hung the flag outside his Senate office. Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R) posted an image of the flag on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
“The silver lining here is that Alito’s display of the ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flag shines a light on the threat and pervasiveness of Christian Nationalism,” AU’s Laser wrote in an opinion column published by The Progressive Magazine. “Make no mistake: They are making inroads in the government. In order to protect our country and everyone’s freedom to live as themselves and believe as they choose, we must recommit ourselves as a nation to the separation of church and state.”