President Obama’s decision to avoid the word “God” in his weekly address “On Thanksgiving” has raised the ire of critics who say Thanksgiving was intended for that very purpose:  thanking God.

For the record, President Obama did reference God in the annual Presidential Proclamation of Thanksgiving, though he did so only once in the first person: 

As we gather in our communities and in our homes, around the table or near the hearth, we give thanks to each other and to God for the many kindnesses and comforts that grace our lives. 

Obama’s radio address has been compared to the starkly religious declarations of Presidents Washington and Lincoln — declarations Obama referenced in his own.

Interestingly, the references to “faith” and other “religious terms” led one atheist to say that Obama’s use of “plenty of religious language,” even without a specific reference to God, was a “PC thing to do,” and he could expect “no better from him.”

With reference to the Religion Clause.