A few days ago, this site noted that a self-described religious freedom organization, Michael Weinstein’s MRFF, had criticized deployed servicemembers for publicly celebrating Easter in the combat theatre.

In an interesting convergence of topics, a message by President Obama recently cited just such a celebration of Easter–and not by just any servicemembers, but by a unit of deployed fighter pilots.  A fascinating photo (below) helps explain.

In his “holiday greetings” distributed on 3 April 2010, the President commented on “war time” observances of Easter, saying: 

One such war-time service was held on the black sands of Iwo Jima more than sixty years ago.  There, in the wake of some of the fiercest fighting of World War II, a chaplain rose to deliver an Easter sermon, consecrating the memory, he said “of American dead – Catholic, Protestant, Jew.  Together,” he said, “they huddled in foxholes or crouched in the bloody sands…Together they practiced virtue, patriotism, love of country, love of you and of me.**” The chaplain continued, “The heritage they have left us, the vision of a new world, [was] made possible by the common bond that united them…their only hope that this unity will endure.”

[**President Obama left out the next sentence, which was “Together they stand before the greatest Soldier of them all, Jesus Christ…”]

According to reports from the time, this was part of a sermon delivered to Army Air Forces 7th Fighter Command personnel on 1 April 1945.  The Easter celebration was held on the “black sands of Iwo Jima,” though not on the beaches as some might presume.  Rather, it was held on the slopes of Mount Suribachi–of Iwo Jima’s flag raising fame–with a commanding view of the whole of the island.

During the period immediately following the capture of Iwo Jima, there were thousands of Army and Marine troops on the island, as well as dozens of Chaplains.  Multiple services were held, including a Catholic observance in a makeshift tent and likely services on the Army airfield.  Since the only apparent record of the service is an audio file, it isn’t possible to know if this particular Chaplain was using a “large cross” in his Easter service overlooking the island.  However, one was certainly used by Chaplain Martin of the 3rd Marine Division, who also performed Easter services on Suribachi the same morning.  Though the digital copy of the decades-old picture is poor, the cross is clearly visible overlooking the beaches of Iwo Jima:

This is the text describing the service:

In spite of a cold drizzling rain, an early morning Easter service was conducted on 1 April 1945 on top of Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, by Chaplain A. O. Martin, for members of the Third Marine Division.  The service took place near the spot made famous by a group of Marines who planted the United States flag on the mountain during the fierce struggle to gain control of the island.

In referencing the celebration of Easter on Iwo Jima, President Obama cited one of the most public expressions of the Christian faith in the deployed wartime military–and he did so without apology.

One wonders if the MRFF would have allowed the Marines who took Iwo Jima their cross during their early morning Easter service, or if they would have instead felt the need to protect the largely non-Christian Japanese from the impression America was invading as a conquering Christian nation.  (MacArthur’s subsequent “thousand missionaries” statement would certainly have raised their ire.)

Regardless, the MRFF’s manufactured offense over “large crosses” used in Easter services during the ongoing war is undermined by the evidence the US military has protected the free exercise of its troops (even for Easter) for more than 65 years.  The use of crosses in a public military Easter service in a foreign land isn’t new, nor is it evidence the US is on some kind of “crusade,” despite the MRFF assertion to the contrary.  Weinstein might do better to follow Obama’s lead and celebrate the religious freedom of US servicemembers, rather than defend America’s adversaries from hypothetical offense at the expense of American troops’ religious freedom.

An original 3-minute audio clip with part of this sermon, as recorded in 1945, is available at the History Channel.  For those with even a remote interest in military history, it makes for a fascinating listen.

The Christian Post has an interesting article on the contrasts between President Obama’s holiday message and former President Bush’s traditional Easter statements.