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THE FIRE OF FREEDOM Wayne D. Leeper ...Yet because we have acted in the great liberating tradition of this nation, tens of millions have achieved their freedom. And as hope kindles hope, millions more will find it. By our efforts, we have lit a fire as well - a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power, it burns those who fight its progress, and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world. George W. Bush Second Inaugural Address January 20, 2005 As we turned on our TV sets on Sunday morning we saw transpiring before our eyes one of the defining moments in the history of humanity. Like the shot fired at Lexington in 1775 became the “shot heard around the world,” the Iraqi election of January 30, 2005 will ripple through the Islamic world and ultimately effect, for the better, the lives of over a billion people. Many scoffed at the grand ideals set forth in our president’s inaugural speech yet the validity of his words were established beyond any doubt a mere ten days after he spoke them. Historians will look back on the democratic election in Iraq as standing along side of the Magna Charta in England, the Declaration of Independence in America, and the fall of the Berlin wall in Germany as a defining events in the history of mankind. Life is precious and every life lost in Iraq is a tragedy for both America and the family of each and every one of our fallen heroes. Yet every family effected by the loss of a loved one in the fight for the freedom of mankind can be very proud and take comfort in knowing that the one they loved did not die in vain. Because of their sacrifice and new nation of over twenty-five million men, women and children has been born and ultimately hundreds of millions of others will also breath the fresh air of freedom. In our own fight for freedom over twenty-five thousand young Americans gave their lives that we might be free. In dying they gave birth to the greatest nation ever to exist on the face of the earth. Our Declaration of Independence was signed fifteen years before our matchless constitution would be written. Today, January 30, 2005, the people of Iraq defied the terrorist and, facing the threat of death for themselves as well as their children, voted themselves a free, independent, and democratic people. Tomorrow they will draft their own constitution. Like our forefathers, they also will preserve and protect the God given rights of every citizen. Standing guard over this process were the legitimate and patriotic heirs of those who fought and died to gain our own freedom over two hundred and twenty-five years ago. The signers of America’s Declaration of Independence ended that great document with the words: And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. Today, with the help of the men and women of the allied coalition, the people of Iraq lived out that pledge, just as did our forefathers over two hundred years ago. Truly a fire of freedom has been lit this day. Many of us will not live to see the final victory accomplished by that fire, but our children and grandchildren will live in a better world because of it. I hope they remember. I hope the world remembers. I hope they remember the courage of the ordinary men and women of Iraq and the brave and noble sacrifice of the young sons and daughters of America that made it possible. May God bless America and may He stand guard over our brave sons and daughters who have left home and hearth to defend and promote freedom and liberty throughout the world.
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SEPARATE CHURCH & STATE, NOT GOD & STATE
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