To my atheist friends: Do you see Thanksgiving as religious holiday or secular?

Thanksgiving was originally a religious observance for the Pilgrims. They gave thanks to God for the bountiful harvests they had. But in modern times is still religious in nature or more secular?

You have no rights. LEARN TO GOD!

Get your facts straight. What the Pilgrims were thankful for was that the pagan native Americans had a bountiful harvest and shared it with their new neighbors. In exchange, the christian pilgrims gave the native Americans smallpox and took over their farmlands and crops. There is a recorded prayer by one of the pilgrim fathers thanking god for the plague that wiped out the natives. So we really have a holiday to celebrate the goodness of the native peoples. Thank god for the pagans!

I see it as just a family gathering and a good excise to eat a lot of really good food. But I don't see it as religious like it was probably meant to be originally like you said. Just really a time to e joy family company food, football, and a few days off from work and school.

I see Thanksgiving as an irritating holiday which forces me to endure the inane babble of my unintellectual family.

And yet, Pagans also follow a Religion. You people need to get your heads around what a Religion is and what Christianity is.

In our family, we actually call it Turkey Day, not "Thanksgiving" so for us I'd say it's totally secular. It's just about getting together with family and friends, and feasting on Turkey and other traditional recipes. I know the history and I know that many Christians have some skewed ideas about it, but it really was not about bountiful harvests originally. The first "Thanksgiving" was about being able to survive starvation because the Native American people in New England provided the European immigrants with native food which they knew how to find by foraging and cultivating. Turkeys are native to North America, as are potatoes and corn. You knew that right?