Magyar Egyház, 1976 (55. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1976-06-01 / 6-7. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 9 WHAT MAKES AMERICA GREAT? LIBERTY IN AMERICA What is it that makes America great? Is it size? Is it wealth? Is it technical proficiency and military power? Certainly we have size, certainly we have technological proficiency, certainly we have a large pile of nuclear weapons, and certainly we have wealth. The standard of living that this nation enjoys is to most of the rest of the world a utopian dream, unbelievable. Is this what makes our nation great? It is not! Not size, not technique, not armaments, not wealth. It is “Righteousness that exalteth a nation.” (Prov. 14:34). Washington would have led a forlorn hope to a lost cause, instead of being first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen, had not righteousness marched with his men. It wasn’t the weight of metal hurled upon Southern soldiers at Gettysburg, it wasn’t the military genius of General Grant over General Lee, but the righteousness that exalteth a nation that finally turned the tide of victory in favor of the Union, and it is this righteousness that has since kept its component parts together. What makes America great? Faith in spiritual values. Our founding fathers believed that above the material things of this life there were ultimately more important values. They had Christian convictions, and stood by them. They believed that great or small issues were not to he decided by impulse, expediency, or by public opinion experts, but by an ultimate rightness or wrongness written into the very nature of the universe. They firmly believed that it its righteousness that exalteth a nation, and they practiced what they believed. In this Bicentennial year we take pride in the fact that Hungarians have contributed to the development and greatness of America. From the early days of the Revolution through all the later wars Hungarian blood has also sanctified the Altar of American Liberty. The work of our hands, our cultural and creative talents have also helped make America great. We are grateful to God who gave us the opportunity to be a significant part of American history. If America is to remain great she must be true to the ideals and convictions of our founding fathers. If we fail in this, if we let men of evil power, the cafe society, the ungodly steer the Ship of State, then we shall fall away into the dust of history as other nations have fallen, and are now half forgotten. May God give us the strength, the faith, vision and courage to fulfill our destiny that it may always be true -— “this nation under God.” Tibor Toth By Ethel Boros The focus in this bicentennial year has not been on such things as liberty, though we do give in lip service in TV commercials. To Louis Kossuth, Hungarian patriot, it was very clear that success of the American Revolution was not merely one of military tactics but of principle. He felt that it was America’s destiny to stamp out despotism wherever it arose in the world, and he openly said in his visit to the United States and Cleveland in 1851 that he hoped America would aid Hungary in its fight to throw off Austrian domination. Kossuth tried to free Hungary from Austrian domination in 1848. March 15 marks the date of the Budapest Revolution in 1848 in which Kossuth rose to leadership and ruled Hungary as governor until Emperor Franz Josef prevailed upon the Russian Czar to send troops to crush the rebellion. Every Hungarian-American child whose parents taught him to speak the language learned to recite the words of poet Sándor Petőfi “On Your Feet, Hungarians.” It was the words of this same poet that fueled the 1956 revolt in Hungary which was also crushed by the Russians. Kossuth was born in 1802 and died in exile in 1894, a very old man who remained a thorn in the flesh of the Austrian emperor all his life. Like Josef, Cardinal Mindszenty, he was also the conscience of the Hungarian people. After the Hungarian fight for freedom failed, Kossuth went into exile in Turkey where he was held as a political prisoner. If he had accepted the Moslem faith, he could have become a Turkish citizen. But be refused to do this for he was a Christian, a Lutheran and a deeply religious man. Kossuth’s plight and that of his country aroused sympathy in the United States and he was invited to come here as a guest of this country to speak on behalf of his cause. He was invited to address a joint session of Congress in Washington, the first one since LaFayette had done so in 1824 and the first one to do so by invitation. His welcome in Washington and in the East was warm, indeed. He had a marvelous grasp of the English lan-
