Lincoln's Thanksgiving Address

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.

We know that by his divine law, nations, like individuals, are subject to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins; to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

Intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole of the American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.

President Abraham Lincoln

All Monotheisms Are Not Alike

How the Apostles' Creed can sharpen our dialogue with Muslims.

Do Jews Go to Heaven?

Last March I wrote a column, "Why Evangelize the Jews?," that advocated Jewish evangelism. This sparked a frank online exchange with Rabbi Yehiel Poupko, Judaic Scholar at the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, followed by a joint appearance on National Public Radio's "Tell Me More" program. Now the Yehiel and Stan roadshow has moved to "Extension 720," a two-hour discussion program on WGN-AM, hosted by the legendary Dr. Milt Rosenberg (who, not incidentally, this week was awarded the 2008 National Humanities Medal by President Bush). To go to the podcast of our exchange, which occurred on Wednesday, November 19th, click here.

Eat, Drink, and Relax

Think the Pilgrims would frown on today's football-tossing, turkey-gobbling Thanksgiving festivities? Maybe not.

By Elesha Coffman

Guthrie on WGN

I'll be discussing Jewish evangelism, the gospel, and other topics with Rabbi Yehiel Poupko and host Milt Rosenberg on WGN Radio's "Extension 720." The program is scheduled for Wednesday, November 19, from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m. Central. Call-ins welcome during the second hour. Chicago-based "Extension 720" is heard on 720 AM in 38 states.

Islam According to Gallup

An interview with Dalia Mogahed.

By Warren Larson

What Obama Believes

Obama's Fascinating Interview with Cathleen Falsani.

Posted by Steve Waldman

Aliens and Citizens

In the body of Christ, we learn how to be both.

By Jordan Hylden

Election '08: What Obama's Victory Means for Racial Politics

The emphasis on racial threats and extortion-like demands -- all aimed at maximizing white guilt as leverage for getting government and corporate money -- has lost its moment. How does anyone waste time on racial fantasies like reparations for slavery when there is a black man who earned his way into the White House?

By Juan Williams

Election '08: The Decency of George W. Bush

I have seen President Bush show more loyalty than he has been given, more generosity than he has received. I have seen his buoyancy under the weight of malice and his forgiveness of faithless friends. Again and again, I have seen the natural tug of his pride swiftly overcome by a deeper decency -- a decency that is privately engaging and publicly consequential.

By Michael Gerson

Election Day Pride

This morning at my local polling place the line was much longer than usual. I live in a well-heeled, strongly Republican suburb of Chicago. So while Barack Obama is the "local candidate," I don't expect him to carry DuPage County, which I call home.

To my knowledge Barack Obama has asked no one to vote for him based on his race, yet there is no denying that this is a key issue for some of his supporters. For example, a poll I saw the other day said 97 percent of African Americans plan to vote for the Illinois senator. This figure of support is hard for me to fathom, given that many African-American voters care about “family values” issues, and Obama’s liberal legislative record—particularly his staunch support for abortion rights and his ambiguity on gay unions—seems to run counter to those values.

For me, experience, judgment, and agenda should easily trump race for voters. As Martin Luther King Jr. said four decades ago, we ought to be judged on the content of our character, not the color of our skin.

As the line I stood in this morning slowly snaked around to the voting booths set up next to the gym wall in one of our local churches, I noticed an African-American woman a few places ahead of me slowly, carefully marking her ballot. She wore a faded blue headband that had seen many seasons. She had on a pair of black athletic shoes, jeans, and a nondescript shirt. Her vote, if the polls are to be believed, was almost certainly going to go for Obama. The woman was definitely not a typical wealthy DuPage County resident, but here she was, her vote counting as much as anyone else’s.

As I waited behind this woman I tried to imagine what this day must mean for her. She looked to be around 60 and so could likely remember the days in our country when discrimination against minorities was much more rampant than it is today. How proud she must have felt on the day when an African-American man was running for president of the United States.

As someone who has dealt with disability my entire life, I remember the pride and joy I felt when Sarah Palin gave her acceptance speech in Minneapolis, highlighting her support for special-needs children. Perhaps this feeling faintly echoes the excitement felt by African Americans and others at Obama’s candidacy. As I replaced this woman in the voting booth I felt pride in how far my country has come.

In God’s providence I missed living through the days of slavery, Jim Crow, race riots, and other horrors. America indeed still has a lot of problems within and challenges without. But perhaps Obama’s candidacy (and, if God wills, his victory) will enable us to turn the page on these sad chapters of our history and begin to more perfectly live up to our best ideals. This is truly a historic day for all of us, whatever the outcome.

God, bless this woman. And bless America, too.

Election '08: Obama's Abortion Straitjacket

Why the Democratic candidate can't keep both his abortion promises.

By Steven Waldman, Beliefnet

Election '08: Leap of Hope

Sometimes the gambles pay off, sometimes they don't.

A Wall Street Journal editorial.

Election '08: Video: Value Voters USA

A look at what's at stake tomorrow.

Election '08: Poll: Young Evangelicals Surging Towards ... McCain?

Eighty-five percent of evangelicals under 39 plan to vote for McCain compared to the 13 percent who plan to vote for Barack Obama, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

By Sarah Pulliam, CT Politics Blog

Election '08: Faith at the Polls

Barack Obama asks us to take a leap of faith tomorrow.

-- We see his lack of experiencce and he says, "Trust me."

-- We see his liberalism and he says, "I'll cut your taxes."

-- We see his radical pro-abortion record and he says, "I'll cut the abortion rate."

-- We see him go along with the entrenched political corruption in Chicago and he says, "I'll change Washington."

-- We see him as a traditional partisan, and he says, "I'll reach across the aisle."

-- We see his America-hating friends, and he says he is a patriot.

For Sen. Obama to be a good president, he will have to go against everything he has stood for politically. That seems possible, I suppose, but not likely.

Unless you're willing to take that leap of faith.

Servant Evangelism

How Luis Palau, thousands of volunteers, and a gay mayor are trying to transform Portland.

By Tim Stafford, with reporting by Eric Pulliam