Thanksgiving is only a week away. And while we all appreciate the time off, it’s worth remembering how this holiday came to be and thinking together about whether of not it’s really a good idea.
I think that Presidents Washington and Lincoln were correct about the importance of proclamations of a national day of thanksgiving, to which they both attached their signatures, but wrong to include the phrase “to God”. Though to be fair to each of them, given the age in which they lived, it made perfect sense to do so. President Jackson may have been correct to refuse a national day of prayer, but both he and we should be heavy-hearted about that reality.
No society has cultivated long-term success without nurturing in its members the ability to reflect and meditate on the most important issues of the day. And no society has maintained its strength without cultivating its citizens’ capacity for gratitude. But God need not be a part of that for all Americans, even if it is for most of us. In fact, legislating that God should be, strikes me as an idea that is as wrong as creating national days of thanksgiving and prayer are right.
Perhaps we are not ready for a national day of prayer because we do not yet know how to pull that off without trampling on the rights of those who pray differently or do not consider their reflections to be prayer at all. But the fact that we are not able to accomplish something does not make it a bad idea. It means that we have more work to do as a nation – work on the definitions of prayer and thanksgiving, and work on our ability to respect each other’s forms of ethical or spiritual reflection.
This issue cuts to the heart of a needless dichotomy which weakens our public culture and degrades public conversation about the soul our nation.
Why do so many people presume that for prayer and thanksgiving to be meaningful, God must be invoked? And why for so many others, must the mere mention of prayer and thanksgiving cause an almost allergic reaction of unpleasantness?
In fact, the way out of this needless bickering lies in combining the wisdom of those who support the notion of such national days of prayer and thanksgiving with the legitimate concerns of those who oppose them. That could be accomplished by coming together over the value of thanksgiving and prayer WITHOUT God.
In Hebrew, the word for praying is a reflexive verb. It defines an internal conversation that one has with one’s self. To be sure, God has been a part of that conversation for most of those who pray. But the word itself proves that need not always be so.
Perhaps the permission granted by this ancient tradition could serve as a model for our nation as well. It would assure the freedom of conscience to which we are all entitled while cultivating the kind of heightened awareness from which we all could benefit.
Author, radio and TV talk show host, and President of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Brad Hirschfield is the author of 
posted November 19, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Any kind of reference to a god or a deity can be removed from the public arena if that’s what the majority wants. However, It may have some unintended consequences when it happens. But for those of us who pray and give thanks to God for what we have been blessed with, we will still continue to do so. Whether there is a national holiday or not, has no effect on my thankfulness or my ability to pray.
posted November 19, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Marcus,
I agree with you.
The problem is that so many people think that they’re “right” and in order for them to be “right”, other must be “wrong”. Just ask the Jehovah’s Witnesses who come to my door and tell me exactly that.
What about Liddy Dole, who deservedly lost her re-election bid, claiming her rival to be “Godless”, or an atheist?
People have such a visceral, knee-jerk (emphasis on “jerk”) reaction when it comes to references to G-d that, rightly or wrongly, it will never be removed from the public sector. It’s really sad how misguided these suposedly G-dly people are.
posted November 20, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Regardless of ones own religon or lack of, we must recall that the majority of our country not only believe in a Supreme Being called
G-d but that almost everything that is important to the USA has the term G-d, in G-d we trust, or something similar on it.
For years Jews I was related to in the NYC area considered Thanksgiving a Christian holiday for reasons of their own.
It is no longer. Many people do not go to a house of worship that day but are just thankful for friends, family health etc. That is what we celebrate as well as freedom on Thanksgiving. If you want to add anything else that is up to the individual.
Hugs
Laura
posted November 21, 2008 at 2:00 am
Could you enlighten me of your definition of prayer? Is it possible to pray without a “hearer” of the prayer? That’s not just talking to yourself, not that that’s necessarily bad?
posted December 22, 2008 at 5:33 pm
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!
How about “Thank you, nothingness, for everything.” Or how about “Thank you, my wonderful self, for me.” Wait a minute. How can nothingness be thanked or how can I thank myself for my existence?
Oh well, it really doesn’t matter what ludicrous ideas are promoted in reference to Thanksgiving. That issue has already been decided. We’ve been celebrating it almost since the inception of our nation and even longer if we stop to think about it.