Words from Washington: Declaration from 1789
A reminder about Thanksgiving and it’s origins, by George Washington.
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 favor; 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:”
Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.
– G. Washington
November 25th, 2004 at 8:11 pm
Wow!
In liberals circles, this is considered hate speech!
Something tells me that schools in California, Maryland or any Blue state named after George Washington are about to be named after somebody else.
November 25th, 2004 at 10:41 pm
It does stand to reason that maybe that ALCU and the extremist Liberals may have it wrong about the current definition of separation of Church and State.
I am not sure that the founders realized that their great idea would be used so improperly in today’s time.
November 26th, 2004 at 6:57 am
The US Government cannot perform any action or make any policy which blatantly favors one faith or church over another, or even favors belief over non-belief or the other way around.
However, contrary to practice in some other countries, the United States does not excise all religious expression from politics and government. US currency carries the “In God we trust” motto; Congress begins its sessions with a prayer; the Pledge of Allegiance refers to God; and politicians often make references to faith as a foundation of political decisions, very different from the custom in, for example, France. Such political and governmental expressions of religious belief are usually interpreted as being broadly Christian in nature.
In this regard it is often stated that while the US has a separation of Church and State, it is not a separation of government and religion.
November 27th, 2004 at 7:16 pm
As long as the “God” referred to in the above examples are understood to be applicable NOT ONLY to Christianity, then I don’t necessarily have a problem. It appears to cover the more popular monotheistic faiths at least.
Of course that still leaves polytheistic folks out in the cold.
And as for the whole prayer in schools issue, I’m all for it…as long as it’s a private school. Please don’t use my taxes to provide religious instruction in educational institutions. If it’s that important to you, send your kid(s) to a parochial school.
November 27th, 2004 at 9:26 pm
A few of our founders were deists.
November 28th, 2004 at 9:12 am
Saying a 20 second prayer before a football game is not providing religious instruction. I agree that a public school should not have classes that promote a religion, but taxes werent being wasted with prayer in shcool.
Besides My taxes are being used on alot of things I dont agree with.
November 28th, 2004 at 1:16 pm
True…everybody is not 100% happy with where their tax money goes, but that’s the nature of taxes. We have to comfort ourselves that more “good” (i.e. things we agree with) stuff is being done with taxes than “bad”.
And I think Ramdac put it well in his previous posts when he said that “political and governmental expressions of religious belief are usually interpreted as being broadly Christian in nature.” That’s the problem- the assumption is that these expressions are specifically Christian, thereby demonstrating an implicit endorsement of a particular faith by the government.
It’s definitely a sensitive & important topic. I subscribe to an organized religion, so the freedom of religion issue has become a great deal more crucial to me since the current administration came to power. I sincerely hope they can exercise restraint in using their faith to guide them personally without it disproportionately informing their policy decisions.
November 28th, 2004 at 2:51 pm
Your taxes may be used on things you don’t agree with, but at least they were voted on.