Proud to Be Americans

There is no better time than on our nation’s birthday to declare again that we are proud to be Americans. We love our country. We know there is no other nation on earth as wonderful as the United States of America.

Some might be tempted to describe the wonder of this nation in terms of its material bounty and, indeed, this nation is blessed materially. I have walked into supermarkets in other parts of the world to find a few shriveled-up potatoes, a few dried vegetables and a smattering of canned goods. It all looked like what would be discarded in the poorest American store.

I have also stood by visitors from other lands the first time they walked into a supermarket here. With wide eyes fixed on the overflowing shelves, they have audibly gasped at the offerings. They could not believe such abundance was available daily to American shoppers.

But it is not the material bounty that is the wonder of America. It is the freedoms we enjoy — freedoms unimagined in many parts of the world. In past months, The Alabama Baptist has printed stories from India where people were murdered because they embraced a religion other than Hinduism. Other stories have announced the murder of those who were not Muslims.

In parts of the world people die because they are Catholic or Protestant or Orthodox or because they are not Catholic or Protestant or Orthodox. Jews die at the hands of Muslims, and Muslims die at the hands of Jews. The idea of religious freedom is a myth in such places.

Yet in the United States of America, Protestant and Catholic, Jew and Muslim, Hindu and atheist live next door to one another without fear for their personal safety.

Many governments define freedom of religion as meaning one can believe as one desires, but one cannot attempt to convert another to one’s beliefs. In most of the world religious freedom means religious beliefs can be discussed in a church or synagogue but to speak of religion in the public square can land one before governmental authorities.

In the United States one is free to proclaim one’s religious faith in the religious institutions and in the public sector. Wherever there is what has been called an “open forum,” religion is a welcome topic. Neither government nor government officials can force us to be religious, but neither can government prevent us from expressing our religious faith.

This nation was the first nation in the world to guarantee religious freedom for everyone, and this nation still leads the way in allowing people freedom to believe, to practice, to promote and to support the faith of their choice.

Religious freedom is not a freedom that has to be won at the ballot box. It is guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. It is an inalienable right of all Americans.

In this nation we practice freedom of speech. This freedom, too, is enshrined in the Bill of Rights of our national constitution. It is another inalienable right. The most fundamental speech is religious speech. Yet religious speech is limited in the majority of nations today. In Pakistan, one can be sentenced to death for speaking unkindly about the Muslim prophet Mohammed. In Saudi Arabia, one can be jailed for speaking about Jesus in a public setting.

Political speech is also limited in most countries but not in the United States. During the recent war in Iraq one heard criticism of President Bush and of the war. Here one is free to criticize the government. In Iraq, disagreement with the announced position of the government could result in imprisonment or death.
In the United States we enjoy freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, freedom to petition the government and countless other personal freedoms. No other country values personal freedom so dearly as the United States does.

As Americans, we love our flag. But being an American is more than waving Old Glory. Adlai Stevenson used to say that “patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion. It is the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”

Patriotism is perseverance — perseverance for the values that caused men and women to risk their “lives, their fortune and their sacred honor” to establish this nation. Patriotism is perseverance for the values for which people still are willing to risk their all.

Calvin Coolidge observed that perseverance cannot be overvalued. He once said, “Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not … . Genius will not … . Education will not … . Perseverance and determination alone are omnipotent.”

From personal experience all of us know the importance of perseverance. We know firsthand that “no matter how great the inspiration, unless it is accompanied by perspiration, the end will only be frustration.”
So it is with our personal freedoms. As those who helped define what it means to be an American in bygone days, so we must persevere to uphold the freedoms and values embedded in what it means to be Americans.

Only then will those who come after us join the echo in the corridors of time as future generations add their voices to ours in proclaiming that they, too, are proud to be Americans.