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They are ALL 'secular holidays ' because of Not being found in Scripture including Christ's birth day.
The only day Jesus said to commemorate was the day or date of his death - Luke 22:19
I don't think anyone here means "religious" in the sense of "commanded or invented by religion". We mean how it is generally considered or viewed by those who celebrate it.
I can say that when I was an evangelical Christian we tended to view it through our particular religious lens and our thanks were being offered to our god. But as others have pointed out it was originally conceived as a means of taking inventory and expressing gratitude in whatever way one wishes. Even we Christians had at least a secondary purpose of expressing appreciation and gratitude to family members, teachers, mentors, etc. and just generally appreciating the boons and comforts of our existence instead of obsessing constantly about acquiring what we didn't already have. And it always helps (assuming your family was not very dysfunctional) to have everyone you care about gathered 'round to experience it with you.
I think it's a positive holiday if, as in our household, you don't participate in all the Black Friday / Cyber Monday madness. We also do almost nothing for Christmas; we are exchanging family gifts today. We were debating this morning whether to call it Thanksmas or Christgiving ;-)
They are ALL 'secular holidays ' because of Not being found in Scripture including Christ's birth day.
The only day Jesus said to commemorate was the day or date of his death - Luke 22:19
And yet, if a person's 46 year old daughter wants to string up some Christmas lights or buy some candles for a birthday cake it is considered "false worship" and that daughter is to be shunned until she rejoins the Jehovah's Witnesses. Weird
Actually, George Washington signed a proclamation in 1789.
The proclamation you quoted was a singular one, specific to one day. It was among many such days of thanks presidents have issued over the years for various causes. The Lincoln proclamation established Thanksgiving as an annual event, to occur on the last Thursday of each November. (Changed during FDR administration to 4th Thursday in November.)
Substitute being "grateful" for "thankful" and you don't have to aim it at anything except the food you eat, your ability to cook it, and the fact you can enjoy it with family and friends in a land of relative peace and plenty.
I am unaware that thankful and grateful mean different things, the dictionary seems to believe that they are synonyms, both meaning "appreciative."
And I'm thankful for it...no, wait, I'm grateful for it...no, that isn't quite right...its more a matter of being beholden ... no....I think maybe much obliged says it best, unless indebted works a bit better.
Historically, yes, it was certainly intended to be. But it is what you make of it these days. No one can force you to attend a religious service giving thanks to whichever flying spaghetti monster they believe is the "real" one. I enjoy Thanksgiving not because of religion but because I can be thankful without being religious.
I know that it is secular in that it was established by the government (Lincoln administration) and the original purpose was to give thanks for the capture of Atlanta and the victories in the Shenandoah Valley in 1864.
It has evolved into the whole Pilgrims/Indians horn-o-plenty dynamic, but it remains the holiday on which we are supposed to be giving thanks for all the good things in life.
Of course we might ask, who is being thanked? Just luck? Or is the idea that we are supposed to be thanking THE LORD for all our "blessings?" And if not the Lord, then who? Parents? Chief providers? Anyone and everyone who has ever been helpful?
People don't actually go around thanking anyone. If the thanks part of Thanksgiving is honored at all, it is typically in the form of some grace or blessing spoken before the meal commences.
If one argues that you are supposed to be thankful that you are alive and functioning, we still need to ask who is supposed to be thanked. And if there isn't any "who", just simple good fortune, why must this capricious dynamic be thanked at all? It cannot be appreciative of the courtesy because it never had any intention of helping you, you just lucked out.
I think its about as much of a religious holiday as St. Patrick's Day. There was a time when St. Patricks's day had something to do with religion. Now, St. Patrick's day is a day in which we celebrate the pinching of people who do not wear green and parades with giant, balloon leprechauns.
I think we're slowly chipping away at Easter too. One day, the giant, egg-laying rabbits may kick Jesus out entirely.
Christmas has long been half secular, and will probably stay that way forever.
Thanksgiving Day is the celebration of eating turkey with relatives so far as I can see.
I don't agree that you can't be grateful without having to "thank" someone or something.
You can just feel gratitude for what you have. Or not. No belief in anything necessary.
Besides my mother and one sister's S.O., I was the only other person out of 14 with some kind of faith at our family's Thanksgiving. My 88-year-old mom said a prayer of thanks before dinner, while the rest of the family clearly just tolerated having to wait 30 seconds to stuff their faces and a few rolled their eyes. When she is dead, the pre-dinner prayer will end.
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