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How do we remember?

We do so by renewing our resolve to preserve and protect our freedoms. As President Ronald Reagan remarked as he looked out upon a sea of headstones at Arlington National Cemetery on a Memorial Day many years ago:

The sight before us is that of a strong and good nation that stands in silence and remembers those who were loved and who, in return, loved their countrymen enough to die for them. Yet, we must try to honor them—not for their sakes alone, but for our own. And if words cannot repay the debt we owe these men, surely with our actions we must strive to keep faith with them and with the vision that led them to battle and to final sacrifice.

If we are to keep faith with Sgt. Stewart and the other brave men and women who have died in service to the United States, then we must remember that all rights hang together. That is both the genius and the strength of the American system.

Although our country was founded on a Judeo-Christian base, the Framers of the U.S. Constitution understood that religious freedom was for everyone, not just Christians. In other words, the only way that freedom can prevail for Christians is for Christians to stand up and fight for the minority beliefs and religions of others.

Without it, freedom will most likely be lost. And we will be left wondering whose freedoms we are really fighting for.

Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. He can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

News elsewhere includes:

Fallen Soldier's Family Wants Wiccan Marker | Not unlike families who choose the Jewish Star of David, the Christian cross and the Islamic crescent and star to honor their loved ones on headstones and markers, Sgt. Patrick Stewart's family's symbol of choice for his memorial plaque also was from his religion: the Wiccan pentacle. (Washington Post, June 2, 2006)

Wiccan widow fights VA | A war widow who wants the government to put a Wiccan religious symbol on her husband's memorial plaque held an alternative service Monday as a protest, hours before an official Memorial Day ceremony nearby. (Associated Press, May 31, 2006)

John W. Whitehead is also author of:

Is God an American Institution? | The Ninth Circuit Court's decision is about more than the mention of God in a patriotic ritual, it goes to the heart of the debate about our nation's spiritual heritage. (June 27, 2002)

Christianity Today also profiled Whitehead in 1998:

The Dragon Slayer | He fights for religious liberty, defends the civil rights of homosexuals, and funded Paula Jones's case against the President—the enigmatic John Wayne Whitehead. (December 7, 1998)

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June (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50