Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Talking around the turkey: pre-political blessings
Talking around the turkey: pre-political blessings
Jun 28, 2025 10:50 PM

Talking politics around the turkey can turn November 26th from a joyful celebration to a daunting day. While the laughing family, gleaming silverware, or perfectly cooked turkey of Norman Rockwell’s Freedom from Want painting is our ideal, reality sometimes looks very different. Advice for how to navigate the day varies from “fight with your family” to tips on how to avoid politics altogether. As I have noted before, part of the difficulty to navigating conversation is that politics has invaded so much of our lives. Apolitical topics seem more and more difficult to find. What are blessings we share that precede our political differences? To e the political impasse, we can use the concept of pre-political blessings.

To understand pre-political blessings, we can first examine pre-political rights, also known as natural rights. These rights were articulated by liberal philosophers such as John Locke. They are rights that flow naturally from the fact that each person is created by God and has inherent dignity. Because the human person reflects the image of God, he or she has certain rights regardless of whether they are recognized by a government. Pre-political rights – which are clearly articulated in the Declaration of Independence as “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” – can neither be granted nor taken away by a government. The state can only choose whether or not to protect these rights.

Likewise, pre-political blessings flow directly from our immediate connections; family, work, and faith are all blessings that we experience which exist independent of the establishment of government. Family creates joy and meaning in our everyday lives, the oldest existing institution and the most immediate form munity. There is a natural connection between husband and wife, and parent and child. Although a moral or amoral government can erode or support these connections, they do not rely on government authority for their legitimacy.

At the dinner table this year, perhaps you can try discussing these pre-political blessings. Other pre-political blessings to discuss are work and faith. This gets around the usual problem of either ignoring politics or engaging in abrasive arguments. On the one hand, ignoring politics altogether restricts so many interesting conversations you might have. On the other hand, you do not want to risk estranging your loved ones. Instead, talk about family, how it brings joy to your life. Discuss what is meaningful about your work. Likewise, faith is another blessing that brings purpose and meaning. In this climate, it might be easier to talk about religion than politics. mon ground will create productive and healthy conversation. What are other blessings in your family that transcend our daily discussions around politics?

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
PBR: Socialism Tyrannizes
In response to the question, “What is wrong with socialism?” In answering this question we could point to the historical instances of socialist regimes and their abhorrent record on treatment of human beings. But the supporters of socialism might just as well argue that these examples are not truly relevant because each historical instance of socialism has particular contextual corruptions. Thus, these regimes have never really manifested the ideal that socialism offers. So on a more abstract or ideal level,...
More on ‘The Moral Bankruptcy Behind the Bailouts’
“Government budgets are moral documents,” is the often quoted line from Jim Wallis of Sojourners and other religious left leaders. Wallis also adds that “When politicians present their budgets, they are really presenting their priorities.” There is perhaps no better example of a spending bill lacking moral soundness than the current stimulus package being debated in the U.S. Senate. In mentary this week, “The Moral Bankruptcy Behind the Bailouts,” I offer clear reasons how spending more does not equate to...
Of Men, Mountains, and Mining
Here’s a brief report from The Environmental Report on mountain-top removal mining, and the increasing involvement of religious groups weighing in on the question. One of these groups is Christians for the Mountains. A quote by the group’s co-founder Allen Johnson was noteworthy, “We cannot destroy God’s creation in order to have a temporal economy.” One other thing that struck me about the interview is that the AmeriCorp involvement smacks of “rebranding” secular environmentalism. Add the magic words “creation care”...
The ‘P’ Word
This guy fails the ‘anthropological Rorshach’ test: Jonathon Porritt, who chairs the government’s Sustainable Development Commission, says curbing population growth through contraception and abortion must be at the heart of policies to fight global warming. He says political leaders and green campaigners should stop dodging the issue of environmental harm caused by an expanding population. The 2 child limit that Porritt encourages is not just an attempt to limit population growth, but is instead a policy that would put the...
Vatican Condemnation of anti-Semitism Unchanged Despite Misstep on Holocaust Denier
The pope has certainly earned his salary this week. In his attempt to heal a schism, he inadvertently set off a fire storm. As most everyone knows by now, the pontiff lifted the munication of four bishops illicitly ordained by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefevbre in 1988, whose dissent from the Second Vatican Council drew a small but fervent following. One of these bishops, Richard Williamson, is a holocaust denier. To understand the saga, it is necessary to peel back...
PBR: History Casts Doubt
In response to the question, “What is wrong with socialism?” I can hardly do better than Pope John Paul II, who wrote in Centesimus Annus, “the fundamental error of socialism is anthropological in nature,” because socialism maintains, “that the good of the individual can be realized without reference to his free choice.” The socialist experiment is attractive because its model is the family, a situation in which each gives according to his ability and receives according to his need—and it...
PBR: Aristotle on What is Wrong with Socialism
In response to the question, “What is wrong with socialism?” Writing well over 2000 years ago, Aristotle answered Plato, whose Republic advocated socialism, thusly: What mon to the greatest number gets the least amount of care. People pay most attention to what is their own: they care less for what mon; or, at any rate, they care for it only to the extent to which each is individually concerned. Even when there is no other cause for inattention, people are...
PBR: The Faith-Based Initiative
Last week’s National Prayer Breakfast featured a speech by President Obama which was his most substantive address concerning the future of the faith-based initiative since his Zanesville, Ohio speech of July 2008. In the Zanesville speech, then-candidate Obama discussed “expansion” of the faith-based initiative, and some details were added as Obama announced his vision for the newly-named Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The announced priorities of the office are fourfold: The Office’s top priority will be munity groups an...
Acton Commentary: Hollywood’s Radical Che Chic
Was the real Che Guevara a lover of “humanity, justice and truth”? In mentary today, Bruce Edward Walker reviews Steven Soderbergh’s new four-hour “Che” film epic and discovers “a cinematic paean to one of the twentieth-century’s most infamous butchers.” Read the mentary at the Acton Institute website. ...
Acton Commentary: The Moral Bankruptcy Behind the Bailouts
Amid the Washington clamor for more and bigger bailouts, a few brave voices among elected officials and government veterans are being raised about the moral disaster looming behind massive government spending programs. If we ignore these warnings, writes Ray Nothstine in today’s Acton Commentary, we may be “continuing down a path that may usher in an ever greater financial crisis.” Read the mentary here and share ments below. ...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved