November 15, 2005
I am trying to “get my head around” how agnostics and atheists celebrate Thanksgiving. I have weightier matters to consider, but please humor me for a moment. Just how do atheists offer thanks?
If one says there is no God, or that one cannot know if there is a God, then is it possible to offer thanks at all? Oh, sure, I can thank the postal worker for delivering the mail, the newspaper delivery person, and so on. But what about saying thanks for the beauty of a sunset, the giggle of a grand daughter, or the beauty of Saturn’s rings? Seems to me those folks have it pretty tough, not being able to express heartfelt gratitude for the things that really matter. “Thank you, ye first amoeba, who started the chain of evolution that produced the likes of…let’s say…Weird Al Yankovich,” just doesn’t rank up there with “Now thank we all our God…”
Atheists must be careful they don’t slip up, and admit there is an “Intelligent Design” to all of creation, or that there could be something (Someone) other than this visible world.
I saw some of those atheists out trick or treating a couple weeks ago. Guess it is OK to acknowledge other spiritual beings, (devils, ghosts and spooks) but not God. (T-Baby dressed up like a “spook” every Halloween, and even some other days. Nobody messed with him.) And where was the ACLU on Halloween? Don’t I have a right to not be bombarded by those little devils? I even saw Halloween decorations in some government buildings. Shouldn’t the ACLU have been there protecting my rights so I would not be emotionally damaged or religiously oppressed? Of course, I am just making a point.
I wonder how long it will take the ACLU to get on the anti-Thanksgiving bandwagon. First, they must admit that in order to give thanks, the One receiving thanks must be recognized. Interesting dilemma! But I’m sure it’s coming.
Like many of you, I long for a simpler day, such as that day in October 1863 when Abraham Lincoln wrote: “No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gift of the Most High God.” President Lincoln wrote those words in his proclamation making the fourth Thursday of November a National Day of Thanksgiving.
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