October 17, 2004

Rev. Henry Ticknor
Unitarian Universalist Church of the Shenandoah Valley

An American Creed

Let me begin this morning with a question. Who was William Tyler Page of Friendship Heights, Maryland? To answer this question we need to go back to the early days of World War I.

This morning I want to go back to an earlier time in our nation’s history. A time with some interesting parallels to our own. It was a time of war and a time of civil unrest. The year was 1918 and America was questioning what role it was to have to have in WW 1.

President Wilson struggled to maintain a position of American neutrality. However, this stance was irrevocably altered when a German submarine sank the unarmed British line Lusitania killing more than 1000 people including over a hundred Americans.

In that time as in our own, the decision to go to war was not unanimous. Six of the then 96 senators voted against the war and the House passed the resolution only after much heated debate. Wilson went before Congress to request a Declaration of War with these words:

  “The world must be made safe for democracy. and we shall fight for the things that we have always carried nearest our hearts. For democracy…for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free.”

liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free.”

Just as American forces were landing in Europe, trouble was brewing at home. Congress had passed the Selective Service Act mandating registration for military service by every American male—something this country had not experienced since the days of the civil war. Protests against the war and against the draft were widespread.

By the summer of 1918 the war in Europe forced the U.S. government to take control of many industries, railroads, and food and fuel production. Taxes were raised to support the war effort and the government agents carried out censorship of some mail. In May of 1918, Congress passed the Sedition Act which allowed war and draft protestors to be jailed. Perhaps the Patriot Act has its precursors.

At this time, Henry Sterling Chapin, Commissioner of Education of New York State decided to sponsor a nationwide contest for writing a National Creed, which would be a brief summary of the American political faith founded upon things fundamental in American history and tradition. Over three thousand entries were received, and William Tyler Page was declared to be the winner.

James H. Preston, the mayor of Baltimore, presented an award to Page in the House of Representatives Office Building on April 3, 1918. The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the commissioner of education of the state of New York accepted the Creed for the United States, and the proceedings relating to the award were printed in the Congressional Record of April 13, 1918. This is Mr. Page’s Creed:

  I believe in the United States of America as a Government of the People, for the People; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic, a sovereign Nation of many Sovereign States; a perfect Union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of Freedom, Equality, Justice, and Humanity for which American Patriots sacrificed their Lives and Fortunes. I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to Love it; to support its Constitution; to obey its laws; to respect its Flag; and to defend it against all enemies.

I’m not sure, if I were asked, how I would go about describing American political faith. Are we a Christian nation as some would suggest and therefore does our political faith rests upon Christian beliefs? Is it proper to use the words “faith” and “political” in the same sentence? Doesn’t the Bill of Rights expressly separate religion and the state? Do we have a secular religion in this country? And so on.

In his book The American Creed, Forrest Church writes:

“When the founders gathered on a wiltingly hot July in Philadelphia to hammer out their dreams into a single, ringing declaration, they were fashioning precepts as sacred as they were secular. As a group they were not notably religious men. But they were united, almost miraculously, in forging a union that transcended, even encompassed, the historical peculiarity of the present crisis…

The new nation was, as the founders knew, an experiment. Like all experiments, it started with a precept, a “given”—in this case a set of truths so rock-ribbed and essential that they were deemed ”self-evident.” Truth cast in language that, in turn, spells out the truth for succeeding generations deserves to be called a creed.

So it is with Thomas Jefferson’s preamble to the Declaration of Independence. The faith of a nation is captured in its words, words that distill a mission while investing future generations with a sacred charge.

The word “creed” sounds forbidding and ecclesiastical. The American Creed is neither, but it is monumental. Creeds have to be monumental, struck in metal that when refined in the furnace of history and burnished by developing thought, it can endure the trials of time. Creeds are spiritual touchstones.

Capturing the essence of the American experiment, the American creed affirms those truths our founders held self-evident: justice for all, because we are all created equal; and, liberty for all, because we are all endowed by the creator with certain inalienable rights.

America’s fidelity to this creed remains a constant challenge. But it invests our nation with spiritual purpose and—if we honor its precepts—a moral destiny.”

Thus for Forrest Church and others, our American faith, our creed is contained in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence.

We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

Commenting on the words he had written, Jefferson said in his First Inaugural Address:

  “Equal and exact justice to all…Freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of the person…these principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps…They should be the creed of our political faith.”

Now in history there have been many other kinds of creeds—the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed may be two of the most familiar. In actuality, the Apostle’s did not write The Apostles’ Creed; it was the culmination of several centuries of reflection on the meaning of the Christian faith.

The ancient church used this Creed to identify believers, to instruct new converts, and to provide a unifying confession of faith for worship and liturgy. Likewise, the Nicene Creed that was developed at the Council of Nicea in 325 C.E. was drafted to denounce the Arian Controversy concerning the divinity of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. While only western churches recognize the Apostles’ creed, the Nicene Creed is recognized by both Eastern and Western Rite churches.

The word creed comes from the Latin word credo, meaning "I believe," or more literally “I give my heart.” In many of our religious education classes our children and youth are asked to create a credo statement, a statement of belief that summarizes their own personal beliefs and values.

In recent years the UU Minister Robert Fulghum published one of the best-known credo statements. He wrote, “Each spring for many years, I have set myself the task of writing a personal statement of belief: a Credo. When I was younger the statement ran for many pages, trying to cover every base, with no loose end. It sounded like a Supreme Court brief, as if words could resolve all conflicts about the meaning of existence.” A few of the elements of his credo included:

Share everything
Play Fair
Don’t hit people
Clean up your own mess
Be aware of wonder
Hold hands and stick together
Don’t take things that aren’t yours
Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody…and so on.

Of his credo, Fulghum writes, “Everything you need to know is in there somewhere: The golden rule, and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living…Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm.”

And so, what would my creed be if I were asked to write one this election year. What are the ideals I hold most dear? To what ideals would I give my heart?

I believe that as a citizen I am called upon to participate in the democratic process.

I believe that all citizens ought to join hands and work together to celebrate the good things and make the worst things like poverty, illness and inequality better.

I believe that I am called upon to take those actions that I can to protect the natural world and to practice good stewardship of the earth’s resourses.

I believe that responsible living is not about making lofty propositions but about keeping our commitments.

I believe that diversity is essential for democracy.

I believe that I have access to justice only when all others have the same access.

I believe that civil liberty is a right to be exercised responsibly and with regard to the mutual well being of others.

In short I believe that all persons are created equal; that they are endowed with certain inalienable rights and I believe that I have an obligation to protect and to uphold these rights and to right injustice wherever and whenever I find it. I believe that all life must be respected and we must practice good stewardship of all our recourses.

I believe that we should not demean ourselves and those with whom we disagree by relegating our differences to red and blue splatters on a map. I believe that living responsibly is not about making lofty pronouncements ( such as this one) but living responsibly is about keeping commitments. I believe that as a church, as a community and as a nation our diversity is our greatest strength. And lastly, I am called to participate in the democratic process no matter how messy and unsatisfying it may be.

So perhaps we do have an American Creed that is the cornerstone to our liberties and freedoms. Perhaps we do make a civil religion of equality and justice. Perhaps we do believe, in the sense that believe means “give one’s heart to” in tenets that all people are created equal and that all people should have the equal right to pursue the ideals of life, liberty and happiness. Perhaps the importance and lasting impression of our American faith, that which we hold dearest, is reflected in the well-known words of Martin Luther King spoken 190 years after Jefferson penned the preamble.

King said, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

As the historian Arthur M. Schlessinger wrote:

“When we talk of the American democratic faith, we must understand it in its true dimensions. It is not an impervious, final, and complacent orthodoxy, intolerant of deviation and dissent, fulfilled in flag salutes, oaths of allegiance, and hands over the heart. It is an ever evolving philosophy, fulfilling its ideals through debate, self-criticism, protest, disrespect, and irreverence; a tradition in which all the rights of heterodoxy and opportunities for self-assertion. The Creed has been the means by which Americans have haltingly but persistently narrowed the gap between performance and principle. It is what all Americans should learn, because it is what binds all Americans together.”

I grew up in a political family. My father was a ward councilman for the city in New Jersey where I grew up, and at the time of his death in 1965 he was the acting mayor. I remember my mother sitting at the top of the stairs listening to the conversations and debates about local issues. I remember boxes in our basement labeled “political glasses” and “Republican liquor.” And going outside in the morning to go to school and finding a row of dead cigar butts on the front steps. My mother may have enjoyed her role as a political wife; but she didn’t allow cigars in the house!

I remember when he was preparing to run for his own election as mayor his taking me aside, and suggesting that I might hear people say unpleasant things during the campaign. But in reality, as a seventeen year old I really didn’t care much. It’s taken a long time for me to change my attitude, it’s taken me a long time to care about precinct captains and election night jitters. It’s taken me a long time to understand our American creed. And now as we approach what is arguably one of the most important elections in my lifetime I am a convert, a true believer in our democratic institutions.

But as I grow older and as I look to the future my children may face, I have to believe in, I have to give my heart, to those words written in 1776. Those words that are our American creed and I pray that they will be sufficient, that they will bind us up; that they will continue to bring all our citizens together in the ways of truth and affection, and that we and our children may be fulfilled, and that as a nation we may achieve the promise of peace and goodwill.

Amen