Talking Turkey

Don’t Shy Away from Politics, Religion at the Holiday Table

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. For one it seems to have largely been able to fly under the radar and avoid much of the corporate influence faced by many major holidays in modern society, but its primary merit lies in the values that it celebrates and is meant to encourage. Those values being the concept of the traditional family unit and the power that it holds in society.

This all culminates around the Thanksgiving dinner table, where the entire extended family is called together to break bread, and overall just share in the experience of being a family. For this reason, Thanksgiving is one of the most important holidays celebrated in modern times. Not only because it empowers the family as an aspect of the culture, but also because the traditional message that it spreads encourages families to utilize their held power in the world to make positive changes in society. However, whenever Thanksgiving rolls around I tend to hear the same worn out comments about how the two things that should not be discussed at the dinner table are politics and religion, but this could not be further from the truth.

Sure, an argument should never be had in bad faith about any topic, no matter how wrong one side may be, but to say a family shouldn’t have civil discussions about what are perhaps the two most important aspects that define western civilization is simply illogical, and if followed to its logical conclusion could have catastrophic effects on the society as a whole. This is the exact reason why Ronald Regan said “All great change in America begins at the dinner table,” and why the family is considered the smallest unit of society yet makes up the foundation that everything coming after it stands on. From a local city council to even the office of president, there is no aspect of our country that is not ultimately held up and defined by the family unit. Moreover, let us not brush over the fact that there is so much more to being a family than just biological ties. There is a deep spiritual bond shared between members of a family. Each person is called to encourage the physical as well as the spiritual wellbeing of their relatives, so that ultimately they may find salvation through Christ. However, this does not happen by avoiding the conflict that occurs when two opposing ideas clash. In fact, it is in those conflicts that the truth is able to be revealed. So all of this to say that whenever gathering with your family this Thanksgiving, or really any family gathering, don’t shy away from discussing the potentially controversial topics, even if there are disagreements to be had between family members, because those discussions that are had when two opposing ideas clash are what drives every political, societal, and theological movement, having the capability to expose misconceptions, bring into the light what is true, and ultimately play a part in the salvation of others, orienting our society towards what is good and true, and fixing the problems we face one discussion at a time.

The author lives on Holman.