November 11, 2026
This Veterans Day, we commemorate more than 251 years of American military service. Established on June 14, 1775, the Continental Army preceded the nation whose independence it would help secure. From the beginning, American patriots took up arms to defend a people who would soon appeal in the Declaration of Independence to the “Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions.” They understood liberty as a gift from God, worthy of their courage and sacrifice.
For more than two and a half centuries, the American experiment has endured under the gracious hand of “divine Providence,” as the Declaration’s signers acknowledged. Generations of Americans have answered the call to defend their country, recognizing in their homeland a good gift worth defending at the cost of blood and treasure. Such patriotism, when rightly ordered, is a virtue. Our veterans exemplify this virtue through their willingness to bear the burdens of military service, even unto death. This Veterans Day, we honor their sacrifice and the proper ordering of their highest allegiances: God and country, in that order.
The nation has never asked its warfighters to suspend their faith to secure freedom. For many among the founding generation, civil liberty was understood in light of the greater liberty secured through the cross of Christ. General George Washington recognized the importance of Christian faith to the defense of the fledgling nation. In his general orders of July 9, 1776, he wrote:
“The blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary but especially so in times of public distress and danger – The General hopes and trusts, that every officer and man, will endeavor so to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier defending the dearest Rights and Liberties of his country.”
As the Revolutionary War drew to a close in April 1783, Washington called upon his Army to offer thanksgiving to God. At the celebration marking the cessation of hostilities, Washington personally selected John Gano, a Baptist pastor and Continental Army chaplain, to offer a prayer of thanksgiving to “the Almighty Ruler of the world.”
Through their military service, veterans reflect the glory of the God who made them in his image. In a 1935 address to veterans of World War I, General Douglas MacArthur grounded the virtue of military sacrifice in this divine image:
“The soldier, above all other men, is required to perform the highest act of religious teaching – sacrifice. In battle and in the face of danger and death he discloses those divine attributes which his Maker gave when He created man in his own image. … However horrible the incidents of war may be, the soldier who is called upon to offer and to give his life for his country is the noblest development of mankind.”
Military service, when rightly ordered, adorns Christian faith by pointing beyond the Soldier’s sacrifice to the sacrifice of Christ, through whom God grants true liberty. The “Battle Hymn of the Republic” captures this conviction: “As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free.”
From Baptist Pastor John Gano’s ministry during the Revolutionary War to the chaplains serving alongside our Soldiers today, Christian witness has accompanied the American military from its founding. Southern Baptists continue this tradition by sending chaplains to proclaim the Gospel among those who defend our nation. I witnessed this ministry firsthand through Southern Baptist Army Chaplain (Major) Daniel Hurd.
In 2019, while deployed with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) to Iraq’s Nineveh Governorate, Chaplain Hurd regularly organized evangelistic events for Soldiers far from home and family. One evening, an evangelistic meeting in the chapel was interrupted by reports of an enemy drone in the area. Chaplain Hurd and the Soldiers took shelter in a nearby bunker, where he continued sharing the Gospel with a young warfighter. The danger had followed them from the chapel into the bunker, and so had the Gospel. Chaplain Hurd shared in the soldier’s danger while sharing with him the good news of Jesus Christ.
Southern Baptists love their country because they love the God who gave it. This Veterans Day, let us thank God for those who have borne the burdens of our liberty and ask his protection over those who still serve in harm’s way. May we remain faithful in sending chaplains to minister among them, proclaiming the greater liberty secured through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
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Andy Schmitz is an active-duty Army chaplain serving as a bioethicist at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He is endorsed by the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. The views in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of War.
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