The president's words might sound quaint today -- and, no doubt, some would argue they breached the wall of separation between religion and government. But belief in God has been the bedrock on which the nation was founded -- the idea proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal and "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights."
We've largely forgotten the true meaning of Thanksgiving in recent years. Too many of us celebrate the day not with prayers but by gorging ourselves on turkey and football. It has become our national Indulgence Day -- as if we needed a national excuse to eat too much or lie around watching the tube for hours on end.
Today, American soldiers are still giving their lives to protect the American union -- this time from attacks by fanatics who slaughter not only soldiers but innocent women and children in an unholy war that blasphemes the very Allah in whose name it is waged.
In 1863, President Lincoln asked that Americans, while thanking God for His blessings, "commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers" in the Civil War. This Thanksgiving Day many families will be missing a son or daughter, a mother or father, a husband or wife, who have given their lives to protect the rest of us. We owe these families our gratitude and our prayers.
Before we take that first bite of turkey, shouldn't we take time, too, to seek God's protection for our troops, fighting to secure freedom for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan and security for us at home? This, after all, was the spirit that motivated the first Thanksgiving holiday.