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kylewbu

- 3 years ago

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If you don't believe in God, how do you celebrate Thanksgiving?

I've always wondered this. Growing up in a Christian family and church, we always pray to God and gave Him thanks for the blessings He has given us. However, I realize that not everyone out there believes in God. Yet, Thanksgiving is a national holiday. So, if you don't believe in God, how do you celebrate Thanksgiving? Who, or what, do you give thanks to? Or are you glad simply to have a day off work to eat great food and watch (sometimes) great football? Just curious about the thoughts. As a youth pastor, I would love to field some responses to this as I prepare some lessons for the Thanksgiving season for our students.

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You can be thankful for your history, your family, your life and your dinner without belief in God. Some people apparently can believe in God and never be thankful for anything, too...

I'm not 100% sure on this, but it seems to me Thanksgiving was done to thank the native Indians for helping the pilgrims? I wasn't too sure that God was the issue on Thanksgiving, I really thought it was more of an American tradition than say, Christmas, which is to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Perhaps I am mistaken in remembering my elementary school education cause it sure was a LONG time ago,but that's what I remember about it. I am not Christian, but I am American, and I celebrate Thanksgiving just like everyone else. I stuff myself silly and then sleep for three days...

Interestingly enough, I was reminded about the American tradition behind Thanksgiving last year. We had some missionaries from South Africa visiting our church during Thanksgiving last year. They came to our community-wide Thanksgiving service, and it just then occurred to me that this was probably their first time to celebrate Thanksgiving (at least, American Thanksgiving...I'm not sure if there's a South African equivalent). It was a good time to have them with us........I think (hope) they enjoyed it.

Thanksgiving ain't a religious holiday. It simply a day to be thankful, either to people in our life or just appreciative in general for the things we have. Originally, it was a day to be thankful that there was a big enough harvest to last through the winter. BTW, am I the only finds it weird that American Thanksgiving is in the winter when it's supposed to be a "harvest" holiday?

Oh... I didn't answer the question. My family and I get together. Usually I have two Thanksgivings, one on my mom's side and one on my dad's. There's always a heap of food and tons of conversation. And wine. Lots of wine. We really don't thank anyone or anything. I didn't really pay attention to that bit this year.

I thought that the idea behind Thanksgiving was just to be thankful for everything that we have. I didn't know that it had anything to do with Christianity. Wasn't it just about the pilgrims?

YOU'RE A YOUTH PASTOR?! There are many ways to believe in GOD. And believe me - God wants no adoration offered on thanksgiving. Properly research the colonial history and you would not celebrate for; the pilgrim's starvation and cannibalism, the spread of disease by whiteman's arrival, and when whiteman was so hungry, he dug up indian graves to eat the decomposing flesh from them. Not to mention the later mass slavetrade of the Native Americans. 90,000,000 Native Americans died - and the whiteman said 'Be grateful and thank OUR GOD that you are spared.

I agree with most of the replies here - Thanksgiving isn't a religiously affilliated holiday. It's a holiday to be Thankful for what you have. Last I heard athiests could partipate. There isn't even a gift exchange. At my house we drink and play Pictionary. I know that sounds lame but my family takes this seriously. My cousin even created a plaque for each year. Each year the plaque gets updated with either a "girls" or a "boys" victory. There's no blood when it comes to pictionary or gambling in my family

Wow. What an interesting question! Thanksgiving has never been about religion for my family. It's about being thankful (without giving credit to someone or something) that we have each other, the things that we might have that is positive in our lives. I never realized someone would give all of their thanks to God. Hmm. Interesting.

Ouch...do you think he learned his lesson? I don't see him posting here again...such a good lesson in tolerance, huh @kylewbu ?

Can't you be thankful for what you have then, regardless of your beliefs? Just show your appreciation for your life and the ups and downs. Thats how you should celebrate thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is a national holiday, and we have separation of church and State, so it is not a church holiday, but a State holiday. To answer the question, it is just another day, and a fortunate day if you get to spend it with family or love ones--another moment to enjoy the present

Thanksgiving has nothing to do with God. You can be thankful for what you have and not have to thank some invisible being for it. Also I like food.

Myth: The first Thanksgiving was in 1621 and the pilgrims celebrated it every year thereafter. Fact: The first feast wasn't repeated, so it wasn't the beginning of a tradition. In fact, the colonists didn't even call the day Thanksgiving. To them, a thanksgiving was a religious holiday in which they would go to church and thank God for a specific event, such as the winning of a battle. On such a religious day, the types of recreational activities that the pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians participated in during the 1621 harvest feast--dancing, singing secular songs, playing games--wouldn't have been allowed. The feast was a secular celebration, so it never would have been considered a thanksgiving in the pilgrims minds. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set the date for Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of November in 1939 (approved by Congress in 1941) So quite frankly I can be thankful every day whether or not I believe in "God". and, as a decendent of the American Indians that had thier lives and land stolen from them, quite frankly I don't feel any need to celebrate a "white man's holiday"

I feel that thanksgiving is everyday. To celebrate it once a year for me is an attempt to remind me to be grateful for the fact that I exist. The fact that I am matter matters!! It applies to all....

Wasn't Thanksgiving orriginally a feast where the colonists thanked the indians for teaching them how to farm here and helping them survive the first year in America? That's what the Thanksgiving play in school was always about, it never had anything to do with God... And even when my family was religious after saying Grace my family would go around the table and everyone would say one thing they were grateful for, like having family, having good food, having time to spend with each other... things that even people who don't believe in God can be thankful to have.

Wait, when did Thanksgiving become a religious holiday? Isn't it the same category as Independence Day or Memorial Day?

I just make sure to make a time during that day where i state the things I am grateful for. some spiritual leaders encourage their students/followers to say what they are grateful for every day, though I try to keep that in mind, thanksgiving is the one day where no matter how busy I was during the year that one day I can reflect on it all and just say thank you.

I thank the souls and bodies of the humans that made it possible for me to eat the meal. I don't know who these people are. I just am thankful, mostly thankful for a reason to see my family.

I eat food, I spend time with my family, I am thankful. When they pray, I bow my head out of respect. I don't thank anyone specifically, I'm just thankful.

@kylewbu Merkel, TX

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SoulPancake

kylewbu

If you don't believe in God, how do you celebrate Thanksgiving?

idamines

You can be thankful for your history, your family, your life and your dinner without belief in God. Some people apparently can believe in God and never be thankful for anything, too...

erinbrown5

kylewbu

BigAl

WarpedGlass1

WarpedGlass1

I thought that the idea behind Thanksgiving was just to be thankful for everything that we have. I didn't know that it had anything to do with Christianity. Wasn't it just about the pilgrims?

llessur

blah

shannysandwich

ckirk

Ouch...do you think he learned his lesson? I don't see him posting here again...such a good lesson in tolerance, huh @kylewbu ?

naseemhosseini

Can't you be thankful for what you have then, regardless of your beliefs? Just show your appreciation for your life and the ups and downs. Thats how you should celebrate thanksgiving.

Inorofone

Thanksgiving is a national holiday, and we have separation of church and State, so it is not a church holiday, but a State holiday. To answer the question, it is just another day, and a fortunate day if you get to spend it with family or love ones--another moment to enjoy the present

Ginny

Thanksgiving has nothing to do with God. You can be thankful for what you have and not have to thank some invisible being for it. Also I like food.

melb2

sanlevy

I feel that thanksgiving is everyday. To celebrate it once a year for me is an attempt to remind me to be grateful for the fact that I exist. The fact that I am matter matters!! It applies to all....

Mistral

PopeSkippyXVI

Wait, when did Thanksgiving become a religious holiday? Isn't it the same category as Independence Day or Memorial Day?

Bandit

Tripthink

I thank the souls and bodies of the humans that made it possible for me to eat the meal. I don't know who these people are. I just am thankful, mostly thankful for a reason to see my family.

zamfir

I eat food, I spend time with my family, I am thankful. When they pray, I bow my head out of respect. I don't thank anyone specifically, I'm just thankful.

If you don't believe in God, how do you celebrate Thanksgiving?

You can be thankful for your history, your family, your life and your dinner without belief in God. Some people apparently can believe in God and never be thankful for anything, too...

I thought that the idea behind Thanksgiving was just to be thankful for everything that we have. I didn't know that it had anything to do with Christianity. Wasn't it just about the pilgrims?

Ouch...do you think he learned his lesson? I don't see him posting here again...such a good lesson in tolerance, huh @kylewbu ?

Can't you be thankful for what you have then, regardless of your beliefs? Just show your appreciation for your life and the ups and downs. Thats how you should celebrate thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is a national holiday, and we have separation of church and State, so it is not a church holiday, but a State holiday. To answer the question, it is just another day, and a fortunate day if you get to spend it with family or love ones--another moment to enjoy the present

Thanksgiving has nothing to do with God. You can be thankful for what you have and not have to thank some invisible being for it. Also I like food.

I feel that thanksgiving is everyday. To celebrate it once a year for me is an attempt to remind me to be grateful for the fact that I exist. The fact that I am matter matters!! It applies to all....

Wait, when did Thanksgiving become a religious holiday? Isn't it the same category as Independence Day or Memorial Day?

I thank the souls and bodies of the humans that made it possible for me to eat the meal. I don't know who these people are. I just am thankful, mostly thankful for a reason to see my family.

I eat food, I spend time with my family, I am thankful. When they pray, I bow my head out of respect. I don't thank anyone specifically, I'm just thankful.

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