forgotten footnotes.
But we know that the wars that plague our history and foreshadow our
future are rooted in the spiritual conflicts we are all called upon to fight. The
more resolute and courageous we are in fighting these battles, the lesser the
threat that more young men and women will be sent to pay the price for our
freedom.
This is why we honor those who set the example for us – who showed us
by their lives, their service and their character what it means not to have died
in vain. They remind us that character is the only thing you take with you
when you die – and character is the only thing you leave behind. They remind
us that character is what we seek to build in ourselves, in our children, in our
citizens, in our country. They remind us that this is what we honor in our
heroes – their character and their example.
(BMH)
“our religion”
In the early hours of June 6, 1944 – D Day – tens of thousands of American and
Allied troops landed on the heavily fortified beaches of Normandy, France, to
fight the Nazis.
That night, as the terrible battle raged, leaving some 10,000 dead or
wounded in the cause of freedom, President Franklin Roosevelt went on the
radio to pray on behalf of the nation for the soldiers, and for victory in the war.
His prayer began: “Almighty God, our sons, pride of our Nation, this day
have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our
religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.”
“Our religion.” Imagine that! Seventy-two years ago the President of the
United States, in a radio address to the nation, prayed to God to “preserve our
Republic, our religion.”
In the new postmodern, post-Christian, fiercely secular America of today,
a President who spoke of “our religion” would be accused of violating the
separation of church and state, and perhaps even promoting “theocracy.” Our
religion? Whose religion?
The phrase is a bit vague, but the Americans of 72 years ago knew what it
meant. Protestants, Catholics and Jews could all identify with the common set
of values that formed the Judeo-Christian civil religion of the United States.
Were people (including New Church people) whose faith was outside
the mainstream offended by the reference to “our religion”? I doubt it. They
could appreciate the religious liberty which they enjoyed in America under the
Judeo-Christian tradition. And as for atheists, there weren’t many.
In any case, the country, especially at this precarious moment, was
299