Thanksgiving Demonstrates America’s Christian Heritage

John R. Houk
© November 25, 2009

Thanksgiving is tomorrow. Thanksgiving has become a day when friends and family get together for banqueting and (in my case) NFL football. In this day of effective Leftist propaganda and the Secular Humanist Agenda, most people forget why Thanksgiving exists.

I remember in grade school the Thanksgiving period was a time of learning early American history. Foremost in any lesson was why many of the first Europeans came to the North American continent was to escape religious persecution. In those days most European nations had a State religion which was either Roman Catholic or the then very Protestant strains emerging. The Protestants were mostly under the influence of Martin Luther or John Calvin. English Protestantism was a Catholic Church with Papal authority terminated. Hence the name Church of England (aka Anglican and Episcopalian) came into existence.

The thing is in the early 16th and 17th centuries if a Protestant strain did not have a royal protector, then it was often persecuted. Look at the French Huguenots as a prime example. The Huguenots were on their way to becoming the dominant form of Christianity in France; however the French King patronized Roman Catholicism. The Huguenots were ultimately slaughtered in France and reduced to irrelevance.

The Pilgrims of Thanksgiving fame was Englishmen fleeing religious persecution of King James I who considered non-compliance to the Church of England an act of treason. The Pilgrims wanted to dedicate their life to a Biblical view of Christianity. Persecution led the English Pilgrims to Holland. Unfortunately for the stalwart Pilgrims, the Dutch were a bit too lax in the Pilgrim view of Biblical morality. The Pilgrims feared the lax influence on their children with were adapting to the Dutch language and mindset. The concerned Pilgrims then determined to head for America. It was not an easy task. Without patronage they had led capital to finance such a journey. Eventually the capital was discovered through a deal. Hence the Mayflower embarked from Holland then to Plymouth, England then the long voyage to North America.

The Pilgrim journey was arduous. Nonetheless the Pilgrims stuck to the covenant of establishing a Biblical based government which is inherent in the Mayflower Compact.

Here is an agreed upon version of the Mayflower Compact as found in the journals of a couple of Mayflower Pilgrims (Apparently the original has been lost):

"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620."

Notice the part which says, “Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith”. Yes friends this is an establishing of a Christian heritage in America by those who wished to escape religious persecution.

Many secularists in recent years have downplayed the actuality of a Thanksgiving among the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians of less than a Thanksgiving and more of a harvest festival. The secularists legitimately point out that the Indians of the area and day commonly celebrated harvest festivals. The secularist even point out that there was an English tradition of harvest festivals as well. Due to the nature of the games and feasting involved on the occasion that America has chosen a time of Thanksgiving, I am certain there was an element of festival. However due to the nature of the reason for the Pilgrims fleeing England for religious liberty and departing Holland due to the lesser standards of Biblical morality on the Pilgrim offspring, I would have to say any festival participated by the Pilgrims involved giving thanks to the Almighty Creator. Indeed the Christian religious political structure set up in 1621 by the Mayflower Compact was the rule of law for the Plymouth colony until 1691.

History shows that from the time of President George Washington a national Thanksgiving occasionally occurred. Various States made a Thanksgiving State holiday. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln instituted Thanksgiving as a national time of Thanks. President Franklin Roosevelt in 1941 established the current fourth Thursday in November as the actual day of Thanks.

Who are Americans giving thanks to? This is what Leftists are so hot to secularize Thanksgiving Day as Turkey Day. The thanks are given to God Almighty for peace and bounty among American citizens.

The inspiration for these thoughts actually is due to a Thanksgiving essay written by Newt Gingrich. The essay is entitled, “To Whom Do We Give Thanks?”

JRH 11/25/09
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To Whom Do We Give Thanks?

By Newt Gingrich
11/25/2009
Human Events

On the south side of the Rotunda in the United States Capitol Building is a painting titled The Embarkation of the Pilgrims.

The painting depicts the deck of the ship as it departs from Holland for the New World in 1620. Look, and you will see that the pilgrims are praying. A rainbow rises on the left side of the painting, symbolizing hope and divine protection.

The faith in God that the pilgrims exhibited on embarkation from the old world became thankfulness to the same God on disembarkation in the New World.

This is the origin of the day of Thanksgiving we celebrate this week. We give thanks, not merely to one another, or to some undefined spiritual force, but to God.

It doesn’t mean we’re all Christians. It means we’re Americans; lucky citizens of a nation uniquely rooted in faith in our Creator.

Tomorrow We Give Thanks to the God of Washington and Lincoln

To whom will we give thanks tomorrow?

To the God whom George Washington, in the first national Thanksgiving Day proclamation in 1789, called on all Americans to “unite to render unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection.”

To the God to whom Abraham Lincoln looked in the midst of the Civil War as he made Thanksgiving an annual national holiday in 1863:

“No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.”

Tomorrow we give thanks to the Creator who is the source of our sovereignty.

We pause in gratitude to He who has endowed us with the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

And just as no government has granted these rights, no government can legitimately take them away.

This is the freedom the pilgrims prayed for, Washington fought for and Lincoln stood for.

As important as it is to give thanks tomorrow is to remember, as Americans have before us, to whom we give thanks.

May you and your family have a happy, healthy and blessed Thanksgiving.

Your friend,

Newt Gingrich
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Thanksgiving Demonstrates America’s Christian Heritage
John R. Houk
© November 25, 2009
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To Whom Do We Give Thanks?
Mr. Gingrich is the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and author of "Real Change: From the World That Fails to the World That Works" and "Winning the Future" (published by Regnery, a HUMAN EVENTS sister company).

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