Please tear this apart for me: the new Falwell Confidential

[Khephra]

I'm thinking of writing something on this, but I'm sick as a dog. Can anyone help me with comments on this? (I'll be doing it for AU, so there's no money going into my pocket.)

(Press release)

Falwell Confidential

From: Jerry Falwell
Date: November 25, 2003

THE HEART OF THANKSGIVING

On this, my 70th Thanksgiving, my thoughts, as usual, drift back through the
annals of history to recount the narrative of this holiday that really
defines the spirit of America. Every American who cherishes our
Judeo-Christian saga should ensure that they spend some time this
Thanksgiving season recounting with their families the God-inspired history
of Thanksgiving in our nation.

In 1623, the notion of Thanksgiving was born as Gov. William Bradford
declared: "Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant
harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables,
and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and
clams, and inasmuch as he has protected us from the ravages of the savages,
has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship
God according to the dictates of our own conscience.

"Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives
and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the
hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November 29th, of the year
of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three and the third year
since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor
and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings."

In 1789, military hero George Washington was serving as America's first
president. In the midst of the pressures of this arduous job, the new
president, recalling the many blessings on the young nation, declared that
America should honor God with a National Day of Thanksgiving.

In October 1863, with our nation embroiled in a bitter conflict that set
brother against brother, President Abraham Lincoln gave Thanksgiving its
first official time of honor, as he proclaimed the last Thursday in November
as Thanksgiving Day.

"No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these
great things," President Lincoln wrote in his proclamation. "They are the
gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for
our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and
proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged
as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do
therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and
also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to
set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of
Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the
Heavens."

What truly inspiring words these are. And they remain pertinent today as
our nation is embroiled in a different kind of war.

President Lincoln continued: "And I recommend to them that while offering up
the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and
blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness
and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become
widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in
which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of
the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon
as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of
peace, harmony, tranquility and Union."

Several presidents later issued Thanksgiving proclamations, a few of which I
wish to highlight.

On Thanksgiving Day 1898, President William McKinley issued this
proclamation: "The skies have been for a time darkened by the cloud of war,
but as we were compelled to take up the sword in the cause of humanity we
are permitted to rejoice that the conflict has been of brief duration and
the losses we have had to mourn, though grievous and important, have been so
few, considering the great results accomplished, as to inspire us with
gratitude and praise to the Lord of Hosts ...."

On Thanksgiving Day 1917, President Woodrow Wilson issued this proclamation:
"It has long been the honored custom of our people to turn in the fruitful
autumn of the year in praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God for His many
blessings and mercies to us as a nation. That custom we can follow now even
in the midst of the tragedy of a world shaken by war and immeasurable
disaster, in the midst of sorrow and great peril, because even amidst the
darkness that has gathered about us we can see the great blessings God has
bestowed upon us, blessings that are better than mere peace of mind and
prosperity of enterprise."

On Thanksgiving Day 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued this
proclamation: God's help to us has been great in this year of march towards
world-wide liberty. In brotherhood with warriors of other United Nations
our gallant men have won victories, have freed our homes from fear, have
made tyranny tremble, and have laid the foundation for freedom of life in a
world which will be free."

And in 2001, President George W. Bush issued his proclamation, saying: "In
thankfulness and humility, we acknowledge, especially now, our dependence on
One greater than ourselves. On this day of Thanksgiving, let our
thanksgiving be revealed in the compassionate support we render to our
fellow citizens who are grieving unimaginable loss (of September 11); and
let us reach out with care to those in need of food, shelter, and words of
hope. May Almighty God, who is our refuge and our strength in this time of
trouble, watch over our homeland, protect us, and grant us patience,
resolve, and wisdom in all that is to come."

As we celebrate Thanksgiving in 2003, we are witnessing the most aggressive
assault on Judeo-Christian values our nation has ever seen. It is
imperative that those who love this nation recall the history of
Thanksgiving so that future generations will be able to defend this
God-inspired holiday against those forces that wish to force upon us a
totally secular society.

This Thanksgiving, may we make II Chronicles 7:14 our total objective as we
strive to preserve the Judeo-Christian principles that formed and
safeguarded this nation: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall
humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked
ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will
heal their land."

[dwckabal]

1. This seems to be from an old version

of Plimouth Plantation's own web site:

http://web.ccsd.k12.wy.us/Social%20Studies/05/0101th-bradp.html

For some years, a document described as Governor Bradford's first Thanksgiving proclamation has surfaced periodically. It is supposed to date from 1623, which is indeed the year of the first Day of Thanksgiving proclaimed in Plymouth Colony. However, there are a number of problems with this identification:

The date of celebration was given as November 29, while the 1623 event happened in the summer, most probably the end of July.

The 1623 event celebrated two events - the end of a drought, and the news that a ship carrying new colonists, feared sunk, was safe and in transit. It had nothing to do with the harvest, activities of Native Americans, pestilence or the establishment of the church.

Plymouth Colony had no pastor at this time; the religious leader was Elder William Brewster.

The proclamation included anachronistic terms such as vegetables, Pilgrims and Plymouth Rock..

Based on the above evidence, the proclamation was probably created sometime in the 20th century. We have yet to trace its origin with any more accuracy.

[DuctapeFatwa]

2. Here's a link with all you need to answer Jerry & write about the holiday

http://www.hanksville.org/NAresources/indices/NAnations.html

[punpirate]

3. Here is the complete text of the Lincoln proclamation:

http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/source/sb2/sb2w.htm

Falwell quotes it accurately, but the simple problem with this is that, as with all of Falwell's screeds, he mistakes the notion of a supreme being for _his_ supreme being. And, of course, the earliest Thanksgivings were just that--giving thanks that the settlers weren't wiped out by famine or pestilence... or by their new neighbors.

As well, "defend this God-inspired holiday against those forces that wish to force upon us a totally secular society..." is just more drum-beating for the faithful. The issue has never been that society is secular (it's religiously multi-dimensional), but that government is supposed to remain secular. That's what's been stuck in Falwell's chubby craw all these many years.

Besides, haven't heard of anyone lately attacking Thanksgiving as a "Christian holiday," have you? More fear-mongering. Works for Bush, does it not? Nothing like creating an issue where none exists, right?

Cheers.

[gratuitous]

4. I guess any excuse will do

For a man who loves to wear broad phylacteries and whose itching ears are always tuned to the adoration of the crowd, to pray in the public square and on the street corner, so as to be admired by men. He has his reward.