Tim Wildmon

AFA president

January 2005 – My colleague Marvin Sanders says that Thankgiving Day must be the most frustrating day of the year for atheists. What do you do? Do you thank yourself for the provisions of life? Do you thank your neighbor for being born in America? Do you look at the stuffed turkey and thank nature that some other life form somewhere back there in time somehow evolved into a turkey? I don’t know. I just bet atheists are glad – or thankful – when the Friday after Thanksgiving Day arrives. But then, who do they give thanks to for Friday? See what I mean. Total frustration. 

Speaking of atheism. Did you hear in the news that the Maryland public school kids were told they could express thankfulness to anyone they wanted during the holiday season – as long as it wasn’t God? 

“We teach about Thanksgiving from a purely historical perspective, not from a religious perspective,” said Charles Ridgell who is the curriculum and instruction director for the St. Mary’s County Public Schools. 

Before I get to the absurdity of Charles’ statement here, I must note the irony that this guy works for “St. Mary’s” school system. I would love for Charles to give me the  historical background of how the town became known as St. Mary without giving me the religious orientation of the name of the mother of Jesus Christ.

Sounds to me like Charles is getting his ideas from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU, as you know, and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State are trying to rid our country of any vestige of her religious heritage, particularly America’s Christian heritage. 

Now a word to you, Charles. You can’t accurately teach children about the historical perspective of Thanksgiving without including the religious dimension of Thanksgiving. They are one and the same. Trying to make Thanksgiving secular is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

In his Thanksgiving Day proclamation George Washington said: “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God to obey His will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.” 

Charles and other officials of the Maryland Public Schools are censoring the history of this distinctively American holiday and celebration in the name of separation of church and state. As I have said, this attack by the secular left on the religious values, religious expression and now religious holidays has reached an absurd level. I believe it is an obvious and intentional effort on the part of groups like the ACLU, the National Education Association and others to rid America of her Christian heritage. Some also call it historical revisionism. 

And Christmas is not immune. Last December a sign at an elementary school in my small hometown proclaimed the dates for “winter holidays.” Now this may seem like a small thing, but if you are over 30 years of age you know that we always referred to this time of the school year as “Christmas break.” We never called it winter holidays. Christmas Day is a federal holiday because Americans wanted to honor the birth of Jesus Christ. Talk about mixing your church and state. Can you get any more blatant than that? 

I worry for my country if these dedicated secularists succeed. America would suffer a monumental tragedy if our culture goes the way of Europe, where once Christianity was the dominant influence.

Today, Europe’s great cathedrals are largely empty, except for tourists. There are few Christian worshipers. I have read that there are more Muslims in England today than church-going Christians. 

While Christianity is made up of sinful human beings, the benefits for mankind from this great religion have produced “the best for the most,” as my dad says. 

While only God’s Holy Spirit can show a man his need for Christ – we can’t force people to be Christians – all Americans should honor and recognize the benefits to our culture of what is sometimes called the Judeo-Christian value system. In terms of human rights, look around the world and tell me a value system that has done more good for more people than the Christian value system. Contrast the cultural implications of the teaching of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a Christian minister, with those of Karl Marx or Saddam Hussein. 

So when I see things happening in our country like the school officials in Maryland instructing their teachers not to mention God when they teach the kids about Thanksgiving Day, I am both angered and saddened. I’m angry to see the secularists winning battles and sad to think they may win the war.