Text of President's Weekly Radio Address, November 24, 2001

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Thanksgiving this year comes 72 days after a terrible national shock, an act of evil that caused, and continues to cause, so much suffering. Yet, the evil the terrorists intended has resulted in good they never expected. And this holiday season, Americans have much to be thankful for.

We're thankful for the character of our fellow citizens who are flying flags and donating to charity and comforting those who grieve. Americans have aided the families of victims, and the starving children of Afghanistan, half a world away. This country has a good and generous heart.

We're thankful for the decency of the American people who have stood for the American tradition of tolerance and religious liberty -- a tradition that has welcomed and protected generations of immigrants from every faith and background.

We are thankful for new heroes -- police officers and firefighters and emergency workers, who have renewed our respect for public service and provided lasting lessons in courage.

We're thankful for the men and women of our military, who are defending our lives and liberty with such skill, honor and success.

We're thankful, this year even more intensely, for our lives and our families, and the love of those around us. Americans are remembering what really matters -- holding our children more closely, giving them more time.

And we're thankful to God, who turned suffering into strength, and grieve into grace. Offering thanks in the midst of tragedy is an American tradition, perhaps because, in times of testing, our dependence on God is so clear.

The Pilgrims gave thanks even after the many deaths of a bitter winter. Abraham Lincoln proclaimed days of national thanksgiving even during a bloody Civil War. Lincoln asked God to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as it may be consistent with the divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility. We pray for this goal, and we work for it.

In America, blessings are meant to be shared, and out Thanksgiving is revealed in concern for others. At this season, Laura and I hope you'll find ways to reach out and share your blessings and talents in your own communities -- tutor or mentor a child; volunteer in a hospital; support our troops by becoming active in the USO; comfort those who feel afraid; show your kindness to a Muslim neighbor; help someone in need of shelter, or food, or words of hope; and continue to pray for America.

We will face difficult times ahead. The fight we have begun will not be quickly or easily finished. Our enemies hide and plot in many nations. They are devious and ruthless. Yet we are confident in the justice of our cause. We will fight for as long as it takes, and we will prevail.

May God grant us patience, resolve, and wisdom in all that is to come. Happy Thanksgiving, and thank you for listening.

Lincoln had publicly called for repentance before a just God.

"They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. . . . And I recommend to them [the American people] 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."
--President Abraham Lincoln, Proclamation of Thanksgiving, October 3, 1863

And this, adapted from columnist Michelle Malkin:

For redwoods, white plains, and the wild blue yonder, for Yellowstone and brownstones, for evergreen trees and orange groves, for little pink houses and purple mountain majesties, for every divinely painted acre of this sweet land of liberty, we give thee praise.

For Idaho potatoes and Texas toast, for Washington apples and Hawaiian pineapples, for Iowa corn and Maryland crab cakes, for Ohio cherries and Florida strawberries, for Philly cheese steaks and New York cheesecakes, for Maine lobster and Mississippi mud pie, for every home-cooked meal and home-grown harvest, we give thee praise.

O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, we thank you this day for Northern Lights and Southern hospitality, for weekends in New England, for moonlight over Miami, for California dreaming, for a New York state of mind, for Okies and Aggies, for Motown and my town, for Silicon Valley and the Shenandoah Valley, for the San Fernando Valley and Valley Forge, for Bunker Hill and the Black Hills, for the Grand Canyon and the Rio Grande, for Pebble Beach and the Jersey shore.

For American ingenuity and American enterprise, for American-made and American-born, for Americans abroad and Americans at heart, we give thee praise. For the NYPD and the NYFD, for the MDs and EMTs, for Army rangers, for Navy Seals, for Air Force cadets, for Marine Corps reserves, and for all who serve, we thank them, and we thank you, O God, our creator and redeemer.

For "Let's roll," for "We're going up," for "What should I tell the captain?" for "You're going to be alright, brother," for "Take care of the kids," for "I love you, honey," for "We will not fail," for "United we stand," and for "Never forget," we offer eternal thanks.

For Psalm 23, for Ecclesiastes 3, for "How Great Thou Art," for "Morning Has Broken," for "Amazing Grace," and for "Be Not Afraid," we give thee praise. For "E Pluribus Unum" and "Semper Fidelis," for "God Bless America" and "In God We Trust," for "We the people" and "Of the people, by the people, for the people," for "Don't tread on me," for "Give me liberty or give me death," for "These are the times that try men's souls," for "the land of the free and the home of the brave," we give thee praise.

For iron will, for steely resolve, for mettle tested and time-worn, for uncommon valor that never sleeps, for steady hands, sturdy legs, broad shoulders, and level heads, for stiff upper lips, for blood, sweat, and tears, for conquering our fears, and for unbending courage in the face of the unknown, we give thee praise.

O Father, we come to thee on this national day to join with heart and voice all the people of our blessed land to honor and thank thee. We ask you, Lord, as our forefathers did in times of strife, "to inspire our commanders both by land and sea, and all under them, with that wisdom and fortitude which may render them fit instruments, under the providence of Almighty God, to secure for these United States the greatest of all blessings: independence and peace."

For precious life itself in this great nation -- under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all -- we thank thee, O Father. Amen.

The president has hardly "substantiated a false god." The president is a professing Christian. But he is attempting to forge a global alliance against terrorism in a world that is not entirely Christian and to govern a pluralistic country, in a time when Muslim citizens may become victims of violence.

We are retaliating against the Muslims who attacked us. But the president also has an obligation to all Americans to protect their constitutional rights. Moreover, as Christians we must set an example of love and God's grace to those who do not yet know Christ. All else is hypocrisy.

If by mentioning Islam in speeches without condemning the religion counts as "substantiating a false god," then this is not unprecedented either. Dwight Eisenhower dedicated a Muslim mosque in Washington, D.C. while he was president.

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