Whereas 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; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to “recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:” Now, therefore , I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best. Given under my hand , at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D
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Washington’s 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation
America’s mainstream religious denominations used to teach the faithful that they would be rewarded in the afterlife. But over the past generation, a different strain of Christian faith has proliferated—one that promises to make believers rich in the here and now. Known as the prosperity gospel , and claiming tens of millions of adherents, it fosters risk-taking and intense material optimism.
Excerpt from:
Prosperity Gospel: Did Christianity Cause the Crash?
Paul Harvey Partly, but not totally, OT — my review of Jonathan Bean, Race and Liberty: An Essential Reader , has been posted here at Books and Culture “Book of the Week” site. For those interested, this book is a documentary compilation of thinkers from the “classical liberal tradition,” who believed in its “fundamental doctrines of individual freedom from government control, the Constitution as a guarantor of freedom, color-blind law,” capitalism, and religious faith as a preserver of the moral order. The book contends that this stood in contradistinction to “left-wing liberalism, with its emphasis on group rights, government power, and hostility to free market capitalism” [and, usually, religious belief].
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Will the Real Classical Liberals Please Stand Up? A Documentary Survey of Race and Liberty
Good visual art perhaps is as much about ideas as images. We can admire the skillful composition and painterly effects of masterpieces by Caravaggio or Rembrandt, but without some understanding of the subject matter and historical context, we likely would fail to appreciate just why they are so special.
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Redux photography exhibition explores cultural connotations of sacred space
He resigned his post after another priest filed a lawsuit accusing Ziemann of sexual misconduct. G. Patrick Ziemann, the former Roman Catholic bishop of Santa Rosa who resigned in 1999 amid sexual and financial scandals, has died
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G. Patrick Ziemann dies at 68; embattled former Roman Catholic bishop of Santa Rosa diocese
Upon completing my study of Herman Hoeh’s “True History of the True Church”, 1959 edition, I saw that the study was so long the best way to get the information out was to write a small post summarizing what I’d found . What I had found was disturbingly similar to another study that I had done earlier about Herbert Armstrong’s 1960 booklet “Who Is the Beast.” I thought it would be good to summarize that earlier study here in the same way I did for “True History”.
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Another True History?
She was the head of the Church Universal and Triumphant, which gained notoriety in the late 1980s for its followers’ elaborate preparations for nuclear Armageddon. Elizabeth Clare Prophet, retired spiritual leader of the Church Universal and Triumphant, which was based for several years in a Calabasas headquarters called Camelot and gained notoriety in the late 1980s for its followers’ elaborate preparations for nuclear Armageddon, has died
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Elizabeth Clare Prophet dies at 70; former leader of religious sect
From The New York Post : For the first and probably only time in history, Bob Dylan , the freewheelin’ 68-year-old rock legend, and David Archuleta , the lucky troll-like 18-year-old “ American Idol ” runner-up, are on the same artistic plane.
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David (Archuleta) vs. Goliath (Bob Dylan): Xmas edition
At Christmas time in Western countries it can be difficult for those of other or no faiths. Do you join in with the seasonal celebrations ignoring the Christian message, do you ignore it, or do you link it to celebrating a festival of your own at this time of year
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Taoism, Christmas and Ta Chiu
How religion tamed the human species; how a form of theological expression from the Middle Ages could help us recover our understanding of God. The Evolution of God
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Faith and Belief: ‘The Evolution of God’ by Robert Wright and ‘The Case for God’ by Karen Armstrong