Is Thanksgiving A Religious Holiday, Nowadays

[Era Might]

[quote name='apparently' date='26 November 2009 - 08:08 PM' timestamp='1259284096' post='2009936']
it did originated in R E L I G I O N


- General Thanksgiving - By the PRESIDENT (George Washington) of the United States Of America
A PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLIC THANKSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

PS: I'm thankful for , not to garbageman
[/quote]
The United States is not a religion.

[MissyP89]

It's not a religious holiday, but it can be.

[Vincent Vega]

[quote name='Sternhauser' date='26 November 2009 - 12:33 PM' timestamp='1259256824' post='2009737']
I don't associate "religious" with Abraham Lincoln, who instituted it as a "national" holiday. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is not pleased with human sacrifice. His war resulted in the unnecessary deaths of over 600,000 people. He did not fight to free the slaves, as Tom Dilorenzo and Thomas Woods point out: he spoke in favor of protecting the "right" of the South to own slaves even in his first inaugural address. He fought to save his taxes. "What, then, would become of my tariff?" as he said of secession, an act authorized by the Constitution in Amendments IX and X, and an act spoken of approvingly by Thomas Jefferson, multiple times. And be sure to read it carefully: the Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave: it only applied to Southern states not already under Union dominion.

~Sternhauser
[/quote]
I agree with this. Lincoln is not the saint that many would have him made out to be.

[Sternhauser]

[quote name='apparently' date='26 November 2009 - 09:49 PM' timestamp='1259286542' post='2009953']
This little snippet from Lincoln's thanksgiving proclamation says it all.

[size="6"][color="#002200"][size="2"]Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation[/size][/color][/size]
[/quote]

No. This little snippet says it all:
[font="Arial"]
"[/font][font="arial"][size="2"]In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. [b]Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence,[/b] have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and [b]the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom[/b]. [b]No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things.[/b] [b]They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God[/b], who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy."

"Civil War?" "Defence?" The South did not try to take over the North. It had the chance to take over D.C. after it routed the Union army after the battle of First Manassas. It did not take that opportunity, because they were fighting to be left alone, not to take over control of the central state. Hence, it was not a "civil war." It was a war of aggression on the part of the North, and a lie. Lincoln was thanking God for helping the North ravage the South. That's not religious. That's blasphemous.

Increase of freedom? It was the utter stomping out of freedom. Lincoln ordered a mass arrest of those who spoke out against the war. He suspended the writ of habeas corpus and imposed the first and unconstitutional national income tax. Lincoln was not a religious man, but he talked a good game. He acted in the service of Ares.

~Sternhauser


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[add]

give thanks

[KnightofChrist]

"All ye Pilgrims with your wives and little ones, do gather at the Meeting House, on the hill… there to listen to the pastor, and render Thanksgiving to the Almighty God for all His blessings."

-Governor William Bradford of the Pilgrim Colony


"Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four men on fowling so that we might, after a special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as... served the company almost a week... Many of the Indians amongst us and... their greatest King, Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted; and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought... And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet BY THE GOODNESS OF GOD WE ARE... FAR FROM WANT."

-Pilgrim Edward Winslow, American Pilgrim leader on the Mayflower

"…for solemn thanksgiving and praise. That with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts, and consecrate themselves to the service of their Divine Benefactor;… and their humble and earnest supplication that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them (their manifold sins) out of remembrance… That it may please Him… to take schools and seminaries of education, so necessary for cultivating the principles of true liberty, virtue and piety under His nurturing hand, and to prosper the means of religion for the promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which consisteth of 'righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost'…"

-National Thanksgiving Proclamation of the Continental Congress, November 1, 1777

Thanksgiving's origins are religious, but like Christmas it has been highly secularized.

[Hassan]

[quote name='KnightofChrist' date='26 November 2009 - 11:12 PM' timestamp='1259295162' post='2010029']

-National Thanksgiving Proclamation of the Continental Congress, November 1, 1777

Thanksgiving's origins are religious, but like Christmas it has been highly secularized.
[/quote]

Things often get better with age.

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='Hassan' date='26 November 2009 - 11:47 PM' timestamp='1259297252' post='2010049']
Things often get better with age.
[/quote]

Often, however, the opposite is the case.

[Era Might]

[quote name='KnightofChrist' date='26 November 2009 - 11:12 PM' timestamp='1259295162' post='2010029']
"All ye Pilgrims with your wives and little ones, do gather at the Meeting House, on the hill… there to listen to the pastor, and render Thanksgiving to the Almighty God for all His blessings."

-Governor William Bradford of the Pilgrim Colony


"Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four men on fowling so that we might, after a special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as... served the company almost a week... Many of the Indians amongst us and... their greatest King, Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted; and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought... And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet BY THE GOODNESS OF GOD WE ARE... FAR FROM WANT."

-Pilgrim Edward Winslow, American Pilgrim leader on the Mayflower

"…for solemn thanksgiving and praise. That with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts, and consecrate themselves to the service of their Divine Benefactor;… and their humble and earnest supplication that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them (their manifold sins) out of remembrance… That it may please Him… to take schools and seminaries of education, so necessary for cultivating the principles of true liberty, virtue and piety under His nurturing hand, and to prosper the means of religion for the promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which consisteth of 'righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost'…"

-National Thanksgiving Proclamation of the Continental Congress, November 1, 1777

Thanksgiving's origins are religious, but like Christmas it has been highly secularized.
[/quote]
When I celebrate Thanksgiving I am not celebrating it as a Puritan religious holiday. I am celebrating it as a national holiday, not as a religious holiday. I would not celebrate Thanksgiving if I saw it as a Puritan religious holiday, because I do not belong to the Puritan religion.

[Sternhauser]

[quote name='Era Might' date='27 November 2009 - 01:08 AM' timestamp='1259298487' post='2010067']
When I celebrate Thanksgiving I am not celebrating a Puritan religious holiday. I would not celebrate Thanksgiving if I saw it as a Puritan religious holiday, because I do not belong to the Puritan religion.
[/quote]

I saw Goody Era in the woods with the devil! The devil made Goody Era to plow on Sunday!

~Sternhauser

[KnightofChrist]

[quote name='Era Might' date='27 November 2009 - 12:08 AM' timestamp='1259298487' post='2010067']
When I celebrate Thanksgiving I am not celebrating a Puritan religious holiday. I am celebrating a national holiday, not a religious holiday. I would not celebrate Thanksgiving if I saw it as a Puritan religious holiday, because I do not belong to the Puritan religion.
[/quote]

It's origins are religious, and Christian. Giving thanks to Christ for the harvest is was not and is not limited to the Puritans.

[elizabeth09]

Well, this is an "American" holiday, not a religious holiday. Just because you give thanks does not means that one religious just celebrate. There are more then just one religious celebrate. I give thanks for the people in my life, good health, and a job that I have right now.

[Sternhauser]

[quote name='elizabeth09' date='27 November 2009 - 01:12 AM' timestamp='1259298737' post='2010072']
Well, this is an "American" holiday, not a religious holiday. Just because you give thanks does not means that one religious just celebrate. There are more then just one religious celebrate. I give thanks for the people in my life, good health, and a job that I have right now.
[/quote]

To whom are you giving thanks?

~Sternhauser

[Era Might]

[quote name='KnightofChrist' date='27 November 2009 - 12:12 AM' timestamp='1259298729' post='2010071']
It's origins are religious, and Christian. Giving thanks to Christ for the harvest is was not and is not limited to the Puritans.
[/quote]
I agree that giving thanks for the harvest is not limited to the Puritans. But if you are arguing that the specific holiday of "Thanksgiving" is a religious holiday, then that requires it to be connected to some religion. Since its origins are in Puritanism, that would make it a Puritan religious holiday. Since I am not a Puritan, I would not celebrate a Puritan religious holiday. I am a citizen of the United States, however, so I do celebrate Thanksgiving as a national holiday.

[elizabeth09]

[quote name='Sternhauser' date='26 November 2009 - 11:14 PM' timestamp='1259298848' post='2010074']
To whom are you giving thanks?

~Sternhauser
[/quote]


God, family, friends, good health, and a good job.