What's So Bad About Memorial Day?

Honoring the nation's war dead is discomfiting to many on the pacifist Religious Left. One Protestant theologian's fairly thoughtful Memorial Day ode to fallen veterans this year hailed their "sacrificial living." But Bruce Epperly, a United Church of Christ "process theologian" from liberal Lancaster Seminary, cautioned against "American exceptionalism" or "America first" ideologies in favor of embracing the "wellbeing of others, including the planet." After all, "We can celebrate our nation's fallen heroes without being nationalistic." And he concluded: "Memorial Day is about remembering, and then dedicating our own lives to a larger, greater good for those we love, our nation -- and this may mean protesting against military action, injustice, and enmity to immigrants -- and the planet as a whole."