Davidson family photo Benjamin Davidson with his “thin blue line” flag in honor of police officers like his father.
By DOUG BATES/Editor/The Herald — The pastor of the United Methodist Church in Oakridge has apologized for his sermon last Sunday, July 11, in which he made negative comments about a 15-year-old boy who likes to wave flags at passing cars, often in front of the church.
Pastor Ross Spencer of the United Methodist Church in Oakridge.
As word of the sermon spread, generating an angry backlash, the pastor, Ross Spencer, issued a pair of apologies on social media. In the first one he said he hadn’t been aware that the youth had autism, and in the second apology he said he hadn’t realized that the boy’s flag, criticized in the sermon, was a “thin blue line” flag honoring the youngster’s father, who is a policeman.
“I am a poor sinner,” Spencer wrote, “and I ask forgiveness for my prejudice, my judgment, my arrogance and my ignorance.”
Sunday’s controversial sermon, titled “Patriotism With Open Eyes,” suggests that it was the flag-waving boy, ninth-grader Benjamin Davidson, who was ignorant.
“There’s a young kid who every day waves his transformed, miscolored stars and Stripes in front of our church in celebration of the former president and his return to power,” Spencer told the congregation. “He is young and ignorant of what it all stands for.”
Ben’s parents, Steve and Priscilla Davidson, whose home is just a block away from the United Methodist Church, learned of the pastor’s comments afterward when contacted by a congregant who had heard the sermon and was upset by it.
“My son Benjamin is 15 years old and on the autism spectrum,” Priscilla Davidson told The Herald. “Nothing makes him more happy than to fly his flags. The American flag and the thin blue line flag are his favorites.”
Davidson family photo Benjamin Davidson’s mother says he has been waving flags in Oakridge ever since he saw the American flag burning in a television news video over a year ago.
She said her son began waving flags at passing vehicles over a year ago in front of their home, which was adorned with Trump/Pence banners during the presidential race. Even afterward Benjamin has kept it up, “every single day, rain or shine,” she said, because it brings him great joy when motorists honk and give him a wave or thumbs-up.
“We don’t make him do it. He was upset with what he saw in the news and just wanted to do it,” she said. “And it’s not because of autism, although his uniqueness helps him focus on the flags.”
Spencer’s Sunday sermon was posted on the church’s website until Wednesday. Then, as a furor began to build online, the post was taken down and the cleric put out the first of two apologies.
“Wow, that’s a whole lot of hatred coming my way. And some of it is merited,” Spencer wrote on Facebook. “I did not know about this young man’s mental condition. Upon reflection, I realize I was insensitive and unkind to mention his situation specifically and should have stuck to generalities.
“No one should use this kid as a political pawn, myself included,” he wrote, adding that he “will be talking to the young man in person.”
“I don’t want their apologies,” Benjamin Davidson told the Herald.
“I don’t want him talking to Ben,” his mom said. “It’s a messed-up apology. I think it was disingenuous.”
A day later, Spencer issued his second apology.
“The more I learn about him (Benjamin) the more I’m mortified by my comments,” Spencer wrote.
Priscilla Davidson said her daughter Heather was organizing a “Support Ben Flag Wave” set for 9:15 a.m. Sunday, July 18, outside the United Methodist Church on East First Street.
“People are coming from Portland,” she said. “There is going to be a big turnout.”
