War on Thanksgiving

Annual Thanksgiving Post:

I am a Traditional Pilgrimist. I can trace my family's roots back to early colonial days. As a Thanksgiving Pilgrimist or TP'er I always celebrate Thanksgiving by having a traditional turkey, traditional stuffing, traditional cranberry sauce and traditional pumpkin pie. I watch the traditional Macy's parade and the traditional Lions and Packers football game.

However, the last few years I have seen a constant assault on Thanksgiving. First, we have people having pasta or sushi and not turkey. Now we have people calling Thanksgiving, Turkey Day, Gobble Day or Gobble Gobble Day. Then there is the advertising, "Gobble up Savings", "Don't be a Turkey and Pay Too Much".  And of course there is the Black Friday sales and if that were not enough we now have Pre-Thanksgiving or Pre-Turkey Day sales.

When will it end?!

As a TP'er I demand that we take Thanksgiving back. Show your support for a traditional Thanksgiving and become a TP'er by leaving a comment of support.

Another Fine Post from: No 2 Religion - Just Say No!

Should God Be Edited Out Of History?

Image by sroemerm via FlickrI was reading an opinion column by Nolan Finley in the Detroit News about whether editing God out of history distorts truth. I am not convinced that editing out God necessarily distorts the truth unless the event was specifically centered around God. 

Nolan uses the example of the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving to make his point. Specifically, he asks, "Ask any grade school kid who the Pilgrims were giving thanks to on the first Thanksgiving and I'll lay you three-to-one odds that the answer you get is, "the Indians."" While this is only partially true, I am not sure it really distorts the meaning or historical relevancy of Thanksgiving. 

I asked my daughter how she understood Thanksgiving and she said it is for giving thanks to the Indians and God for the bountiful harvest. I would accept my daughter's answer as historically correct. Note that my daughter is now a junior in high school and hasn't studied the Pilgrims since 2nd or 3rd grade.

Personally, I do not think God should be edited out of history in any way. Even though God does not likely exist, God has played direct and indirect roles throughout history. To remove God would potentially doom us to repeat the same mistakes as those who have used God to make history.

However, what I do have an issue with is teaching the glory of God or that our country and our world history were shaped by God. Our history was shaped by people who believed they were doing God's work not people chosen by God.
 
Another Fine Post from: No 2 Religion - Just Say No!

Related articles

• Did pilgrims celebrate every year for thanksgiving (wiki.answers.com)
• Thanksgiving Without God (friendlyatheist.com)

The War on Thanksgiving

Repost from Thanksgiving Past:

I am a traditional Pilgrimist. I can trace my family's roots back to early colonial days. As a Thanksgiving Pilgrimist or TP'er I always celebrate Thanksgiving by having a traditional turkey, traditional stuffing, traditional cranberry sauce and traditional pumpkin pie. I watch the traditional Macy's parade and the traditional Lions and Packers football game.

However, the last few years I have seen a constant assault on Thanksgiving. First we have people having pasta or sushi and not turkey. Now we have people calling Thanksgiving, Turkey Day, Gobble Day or Gobble Gobble Day. Then there is the advertising, "Gobble up Savings", "Don't be a Turkey and Pay Too Much".  And of course there is the Black Friday sales and if that were not enough we now have Pre-Thanksgiving or Pre-Turkey Day sales.

When will it end?!

As a TP'er I demand that we take Thanksgiving back. Show your support for a traditional Thanksgiving and become a TP'er by leaving a comment of support.

Turkey Time at Trader Joe's!

Local TJ's does the Turkey Wrap. It is much better live. My wife and I saw it yesterday with just the two guys. Today they had the whole crew.

 
Another Fine Post from: No 2 Religion - Just Say No!

Merry Christmas All

Image via Wikipedia

Why am I wishing all a Merry Christmas? Well it's not because I suddenly believe in Christmas. It is because it is Christmas day and it is appropriate to say Merry Christmas, at least to Christians. Likewise it is appropriate to say Happy Hannukah or Ramadan Kareem on their respective holidays.

Christmas is a day and not a season so the only time it should be appropriate to say Merry Christmas is on Christmas day. We don't go around saying Happy Easter for weeks or months prior. Nor do we say Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Fourth of July or Viva Cinco de Mayo for weeks or months prior.

If there is any real "War on Christmas" it is over the complete hijacking of the months of November and December as "Christmas".