“The last full measure of devotion”: A Memorial Day reflection on our nation and our souls
The Daily Article
The Denison Forum
4.9 • 576 Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2026
⏱️ 7 minutes
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Summary
Christians are used to our religious holidays being preempted for secular purposes. Nonetheless, we should be surprised that even a secular holiday such as Memorial Day has been secularized as well. Many Americans conflate Memorial Day with Veterans Day and think they are intended to fly flags and feel patriotic sentiments in honor of all our military. Many will not even be this reflective, spending today as the “unofficial beginning of summer” with backyard barbeques and similar holiday activities. It is especially ironic that a day intended to commemorate the sacrifice of our military heroes has been sacrificed in this way. There is a spiritual lesson here for us, one that transcends the day and its history.
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Today's Daily Article was written by Dr. Jim Denison and narrated by Chris Elkins. You can read this article on our website. You may also receive it in your inbox by subscribing to our newsletter.
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For more on today’s Daily Artilce theme, please see Dr. Jim Denison's latest website article, “Are we celebrating or commemorating? The forgotten origin of Memorial Day.”
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Greetings on this solemn Memorial Day, May the 25th, 26. Thank you for joining us for Denison |
| 0:08.9 | Forum's Daily Article podcast. I'm Chris Elkins, narrating today's daily article, |
| 0:14.6 | authored by co-founder Dr. Jim Denison. Christians are used to our religious holidays being preempted for secular purposes. In American |
| 0:24.0 | culture, Easter is more about colored eggs and bunnies than the empty tomb and risen Lord. Thanksgiving |
| 0:30.2 | is more about food and football than faith and gratitude. Christmas is more about the coming of |
| 0:36.3 | Santa Claus than the coming of Jesus Christ. |
| 0:39.5 | Other religions have not suffered such a fate in our society. |
| 0:43.2 | Many Muslims begin their Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca today, |
| 0:47.0 | but no revision of this pillar of Islam has emerged in secular society. |
| 0:52.2 | Observant Jews completed Shavat yesterday, commemorating the |
| 0:55.8 | revelation of the Torah at Mount Sinai, but there's no secular version. Nonetheless, it is |
| 1:02.0 | unsurprising that Christian holy days would become secular holidays in a post-Christian and even |
| 1:07.9 | anti-Christian culture. But we should be surprised that even a secular |
| 1:12.6 | holiday has been secularized as well. On May 5, 1868, an organization of Union veterans issued |
| 1:20.5 | the Memorial Day Act, formally establishing a day when the nation would remember its civil war dead |
| 1:26.9 | and decorate their graves with flowers. |
| 1:29.3 | After World War I, the day was expanded to honor those who died in all American wars. |
| 1:35.3 | The Uniform Monday Holiday Act enacted in 1968 and effective in 1971, |
| 1:41.3 | designated Memorial Day a national holiday and moved it to the last Monday in May. |
| 1:47.8 | Its singular purpose was to call the nation each year to remember those who died in military service |
| 1:53.8 | to our nation. But if recent years are any indication, not much will be done today to fulfill |
| 2:00.2 | that purpose. Many Americans conflate |
... |
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