Thanking God at Thanksgiving remains in style
In the 1989 John Hughes movie "Christmas Vacation," Clark Griswold invites his forgetful aunt to say the blessing over dinner. Sweet Aunt Bethany draws a blank, then proceeds to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
Even the iconic Griswold family found a way to work God into the holidays: "One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Amen."
But watch out, Griswolds. There's a hateful horde of anti-religion zealots in this country who'd love nothing more than to punch Aunt Bethany -- and anyone else who dares mention God -- right in the nose.
This ugly reality came home to roost Thanksgiving Day. The president had delivered his weekly address to the nation, entitled "On Thanksgiving, Grateful for the Men and Women Who Defend Our Country."
It's good to give thanks to the troops. But, as noted in news accounts, nowhere in the speech did the president mention God. He did, however, contend the first Thanksgiving was all about a "celebration of community."
Leaving aside the utter strangeness of our president calling the meaning of the first Thanksgiving a "celebration of community," I wrote on Thanksgiving morning that the omission of God from the speech seemed odd. "Somebody ought to remind Obama (and his speechwriter) that when Americans sit down around a meal today and give thanks, they give thanks to God."
My blog was picked up in several national news accounts, producing a wild storm of response, mostly from those who thought President Obama was right not to mention God, that God doesn't exist anyway, and, most interestingly, jumping to the conclusion that people who do thank God are bigots lurking to institute the next Inquisition.
These God deniers were more than over the top.
Here are a few sanitized snippets, sans the F-bombs and the violent threats.
-- "Let me clue you in on something: Lots of Americans do not worship your Middle Eastern extortionist sky god."
-- "Mr. Frederick should go back to his Hollywood lingerie shop and stop pretending to speak for the American people, particularly the 20 percent who, like me, don't recognize a 'god.' Funny, I thought the day was for being thankful, not worshipping an attention-starved, imaginary spook in the sky."
-- "Not everybody gives thanks to their imaginary friends on Thanksgiving."
-- "I do not give thanks to god. I also do not give thanks to Zeus, Poseidon, Neptune, or L. Ron Hubbard (Thanksgiving is for) honoring a bunch of illegals showing up on foreign shores, who then proceeded to steal the land from the people who called it home."
-- "We get it. Obama is black. ... Go get back to your cross burnings or whatever it is you racist inbred hillbillies do in the name of 'God.' "
-- "You are a bigot, sir. Not all Americans worship a deity. This country was not founded on Christian principles, and the Thanksgiving holiday is easily the most evil holiday in American history."
Tsk, tsk. Such hatred from folks who don't believe in God, but no doubt can buy into man-caused global warming. Go figure.
So, to all you soreheads out there, let me remind you that 92 percent of Americans do believe in a god of some kind. Giving thanks to God -- be it at a place of worship or at the Griswolds' table -- remains a common practice in America.
I'm thankful for prayerful people, because as Clark W. Griswold Sr. said to his son when the massive Griswold Christmas lights finally came on in all their brilliance: "It's a beaut, Clark."
Sherman Frederick, former publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, writes a column for Stephens Media. Read his blog at www.lvrj.com/blogs/sherm.
