To protect religious liberty in America
Photo by Clay Lomneth/The American Legion

To protect religious liberty in America

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Preamble to The American Legion Constitution share a common priority: faith as a guiding influence. American Legion National Chaplain Rev. Tierian “Randy” Cash made the case Sunday that religious belief and morality, regardless of doubters in America today, is the foundation upon which the United States and the nation’s largest veterans service organization both were built.

“The American Legion affirmed in its first proclamation (that) service to God is the most important duty a citizen can fulfill,” Rev. Cash told thousands who gathered in Cincinnati Sunday for the 2016 American Legion National Convention Patriotic Memorial Service. Referring to the beginning of the Legion’s constitutional preamble – “For God and country, we associate ourselves together…” – he called upon his fellow veterans and their families “to once again stand unapologetically on the principles on which we were founded – first and foremost, service to God, and, secondly, service to our great nation. If we do not, we have no ground to stand on. It is time for The American Legion to harness its power and influence in the cause of religious liberty which is being systematically threatened.”

Rev. Cash spoke of the moral and religious inspiration behind such developments in America as the abolition of the slave trade, the Emancipation Proclamation and the civil rights movement. “These great advances were not motivated and moved by secular ethics or people who believed in moral relativism. They were driven primarily by persons who had a clear religious vision of what was morally right.”

In recent years, however, religious freedom as protected in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution has been threatened, he explained. “Powerful secular interests are challenging the way religious beliefs and the practices of faith-based organizations stand in the way of their secular aims,” Rev. Cash said. “In the long run, the vitality of religious freedom must rely on public understanding and support.”

Challenges to the place of religion in American society have come in the form of legal movements to remove religious symbols from public places, including monuments and memorials that honor military sacrifices, and debates over prayer in school. “Some influential leaders and many educators have come to consider it bad taste or even illegal for public schools even to mention religious influences and motivations,” Rev. Cash said. “A continuation of this trajectory of ignorance and advocacy of diminished religious freedom – inhibiting the free exercise of religion in favor of other, though often worthy, social goals, will fundamentally change the character of America, and not for the better.”

The national chaplain called upon Legionnaires of different religious denominations to “walk shoulder to shoulder on the same path in order to secure our freedom to pursue our separate ways… We must also insist on our constitutional right to exercise our beliefs and to voice our consciences on issues in the public square and in the halls of justice. These are the rights of all citizens, including religious believers, leaders and organizations.”

Sunday’s ceremony was dedicated to the memory of Rev. Dr. H.C. Ted Kelley of Pennsylvania, who passed away during his 2015-16 term as American Legion national chaplain. He was recognized for his service and as a friend of Rev. Cash at the beginning of the service, as was Peter Ole, longtime organist who served as maestro for the ceremony and in American Legion national convention general sessions for decades; Ole was unable to attend the convention this year for the first time in decades. Performing at the service and convention in his place was Rick Pedro, son of the late Richard Pedro, American Legion past national commander and longtime Department of New York adjutant.

Sunday’s service included patriotic music by Cincinnati’s Circle Singers, wreath-laying ceremonies and lighting of the POW/MIA Candle of Remembrance by 2016 American Legion Boys Nation President Aniyagh Crocker of Tennessee.