It used to be common knowledge that America's first national Thanksgiving Day was established by President George Washington in 1789. That really rankles all of the radical, liberal, left-wing, extremist, fanatics (aka anti-God democrats) who want to force God out of America.

However, Washington's proclamation called for an official "day of public thanksgiving and prayer." Thanksgiving day is an enduring reminder of Washington's wise vision for religious freedom in America.

Both chambers of Congress requested that Washington establish an official day to thank "Almighty God" for allowing the American people to create a republican "form of government for their safety and happiness."

The vast majority of Americans still believe in God and believe that was a good decision.

Our government urged that Americans engage in thanksgiving and prayer to "acknowledge with grateful hearts" the blessings of Almighty God.

There is overwhelming support for this public act of religious observancem, although it is galling to the anti-God activists who have tried in six decades of acrimonious litigation to expunge all evidence of God and faith from public life.

God-haters want us to believe that any expression of religious sentiment or reverence for God in the public square will lead to theocratic control of government by people of faith at the expense of people who have no faith and hate the very idea of God.

President Washington knew better. His vision for the proper role for religion in public life and for church-state relations was both realistic and balanced.

He recognized that government should not be in the business of building houses of worship or of saving souls. However, he was a leader in his Virginia parish of the Church of England. Yet he realized that our new nation should not establish one particular church denomination. The First Amendment, drafted and ratified during Washington's presidency, states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." It does not, however, suggest that congress shall not respect religion or God as the anti-God activists insist.

Washington knew that Americans were a a people of strong faith in God. He knew that the Constitution was crafted to foster and protect freedoms, including a robust right to public expression of religious faith, even if that might offend some segments of the population.

In fact, the protection of religious freedom was so important to Washington that he stated that "the establishment of civil and religious liberty" had been "the motive that induced me to the field of battle" as commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War.

At an event in Washington, D.C., last week launching a new program to protect American religious freedom, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., aptly characterized Washington's motivation: "Washington understood that religious liberty is a fundamental human right and, in the American context, the premise and predecessor for all the other rights that our founding documents and the law give us."

As military commander, Washington demonstrated his commitment to this fundamental right by repeatedly imploring the Continental Congress to provide enough military chaplains of various religious views to meet the needs of his soldiers. As president, he made sure that members of Congress had two chaplains of different religious backgrounds to minister to their spiritual needs.

Both practices endure to this day. Contrary to the exaggerated fears and rhetoric of so-called separationists who hate God, providing chaplains and proclaiming an official day of prayer and thanksgiving never inclined America to establish a national church, much less a theocracy.

Washington routinely, publicly, and unabashedly lauded the benefits of religion in the life of our nation. He merely avoided promoting one religion or sect over another.

Furthermore, the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, over which Washington presided, decided that no religious qualifications, i.e. "no religious test" should ever a criterion for attaining national office. This provision of the Constitution protects from official stigma those of different religious beliefs.

In his 1789 proclamation, President Washington listed the blessings for which his countrymen should be thankful. As we give thanks on our government established Thanksgiving Day, we should remember that from the beginning, Thanksgiving day was based on the wisdom and foresight of our nation's founders to giving thanks to God and establish religious freedom to do so.