Research Shows Americans Still Focus on Prayer, Family at Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Despite growing efforts to secularize celebrations this time of year, a majority of Americans still say being thankful to God is a priority at Thanksgiving.

Lifeway Research writes,

“For Americans, Thanksgiving is about faith and family, and not much else.

“More than half (56 percent) tell LifeWay Research the most important part of the annual holiday is ‘being thankful to God for my blessings.’ Almost 4 in 10 (39 percent) say ‘time with family and friends’ tops their Thanksgiving priorities.”

We have written repeatedly about calls to prayer and thanksgiving issued by everyone from the Founding Fathers to Abraham Lincoln and other U.S. Presidents. For example:

  • The Continental Congress issued a proclamation in 1778 asking Americans to set aside a day “to be observed as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer; that at one time, and with one voice, the inhabitants may acknowledge the righteous dispensations of Divine Providence, and confess their iniquities and transgressions, for which the land mourneth;”
  • Thomas Jefferson issued a thanksgiving proclamation in 1779 when he was Governor of Virginia setting aside “a day of publick and solemn THANKSGIVING to Almighty God, for his mercies, and of PRAYER, for the continuance of his favour and protection to these United States;”
  • Jefferson’s proclamation was issued in conjunction with one from the Continental Congress calling on Americans “to beseech him [God] that he would be graciously pleased to influence our publick Councils, and bless them with wisdom from on high, with unanimity, firmness and success; that he would go forth with our hosts and crown our arms with victory;”
  • In 1780 Congress again issued a thanksgiving proclamation calling on Americans to observe “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer; that all the people may assemble on that day to celebrate the praises of our Divine Benefactor; to confess our unworthiness of the least of his favours, and to offer our fervent supplications to the God of all grace;”
  • In 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued his famous Thanksgiving proclamation inviting Americans to set aside “the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. 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.”

Pausing to give thanks to God is a powerful tradition that is part of our national heritage.

Click here to read more about LifeWay’s research.

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Judge Quashes Mountain Home Nativity Scene Ahead of Christmas

Christmas,

mthomenativityU.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks issued a ruling today quashing a Nativity scene on the Baxter County courthouse lawn, according to various news sources.

The ruling was the result of a lawsuit filed against the county by the American Humanist Association. The judge ruled the county must either stop putting up the Nativity scene or create a public forum on its lawn allowing people of all religions to place decorations on courthouse property.

However, it’s worth pointing out that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled Nativity scenes on public property constitutional in the past. In Lynch v. Donnelly the court ruled a Nativity scene on city property did not violate the Establishment Clause, writing, there was “insufficient evidence to establish that the inclusion of the crèche [Nativity scene] is a purposeful or surreptitious effort to express some kind of subtle governmental advocacy of a particular religious message. . . . The crèche [Nativity scene] in the display depicts the historical origins of this traditional event long recognized as a National Holiday [Christmas].”

Just because property is public doesn’t mean Nativity scenes and similar Christmas decorations are off-limits, as the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed and reaffirmed through the years. And as other courts have noted, the government does not have to put up an anti-Christmas decoration alongside a Christmas decoration in order to comply with the Constitution. (more…)

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Little Rock Port Authority Considers Memo of Understanding with Quapaw Tribe

Current Events, , ,

Skyline_of_Little_Rock,_Arkansas_-_20050319The Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma is working to move property it owns just east of Little Rock into federal trust. Moving the land into federal trust would essentially turn the property into federal land held by the U.S. government in trust for the Quapaw Tribe.

There are provisions in federal law that might make it possible for the Quapaw to open gambling establishments on the property once it is moved into federal trust. Moreover, once the land goes into federal trust, the State of Arkansas, Pulaski County, and the City of Little Rock all lose most of their ability to tax or manage the property; how the property is developed or used becomes a matter that rests largely between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Quapaw Tribe.

Recently it was announced the Little Rock Port Authority–which is adjacent to the Quapaw Tribe’s property–is considering signing a memo of understanding with the tribe that, among other things, might effectively prevent the tribe from developing a casino on the property. However if the land is moved into federal trust, that memo arguably will not have any force of law.

(more…)

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