I was out all day at a meeting off-site yesterday so I did not get to post any updates for the blog. Now that I’m back in the saddle I wanted to provide you with transcripts of interviews and statements that appeared on Eagle TV on Tuesday, about the Mongolian CIA’s “hijacking” of a MIAT airline to test security and customs at Chinggis Khan International Airport. I’ll be posting a commenterry later this evening about the Mongolian media’s failure to cover what may have been one of the biggest stories of the year – and how some competing journalists are trying to pressure our people.

Are you sitting down? Some of the statements in these transcripts will blow your mind.

The following is a transcript of a live interview from Eagle TV between Eagle TV Lead Anchor Jargalmaa and Dorlig, editor of Umnugobi’s News” newspaper. Mr. Dorlig was a passenger on the plane that was “hijacked” in a “planned action” by the Mongolian CIA. (Note: Mongolians only use one name.)

–:BEGIN TRANSCRIPT:–

Anchor Jargalmaa: Thank you for being with us this evening. According to our request, the chief editor of “Umnugobi’s News,” Mr. Dorlig has come to our studio. He was on that plane. So, what happened on the airplane, was it just a training [exercise] or did real terrorists try to hijack the plane?Dorlig: The flight from Dalanzadgad to Ulaanbaatar was absolutely normal as usual. Some of the Aimag’s high government officials were on this flight. After landing, half of the passengers left the plane. I was just outside the plane, and suddenly the door closed right behind me and the stewardess screamed. When we were getting into the bus, one of the pilots rushed in and shouted: “Hurry, get out of here!” Then after entering the airport hall, he said that our plane, maybe, had been hijacked. And we were forbidden to leave the airport, and stayed there for about 2 hours. I am a media person, and I cannot be silent on this matter. In my view, this was not just a training exercise. This was a deliberate act to scare and insult people of my Aimag.

Anchor Jargalmaa: Who closed the plane’s door behind you?

Dorlig: Three young men were on the flight and they were drinking alcoholic beverages. The stewardess told us that she saw the pilot was held at gunpoint in the cockpit. At that time everybody was really shocked.

Anchor Jargalmaa: One [State] official denies that someone had been drinking alcohol during the flight.

Dorlig: I confirm that those guys were drinking. I saw it with my very eyes. They were at the front of the plane. I want to ask why did they choose exactly our flight; we’re not the test rats. And I’m going to say everything in our paper to protect the rights of our people.

Anchor Jargalmaa: How was it possible that some of the passengers had managed to get the gun aboard?

Dorlig: I don’t know, but it seems very easy to smuggle the gun inside. As far as I know, the MIAT officials had any information about this accident. And if the real hijacking takes place in the future, people would think that somebody is training. We have to find out who was responsible for such an act.

Anchor Jargalmaa: What was the reaction of the passengers?

Dorlig: I talked to one of the pilots. He said that he’d been at the gunpoint, hands tied up and beaten up. He was in a deep shock. And, also, one of the passengers was at the gunpoint. Most of the passengers were really frightened and shocked. A woman named Tumengerel, was beaten.

Live Caller #1: I’ve just seen your coverage. This is a barbaric act against the people. Those who went through this trial must fight for the compensation.

Live Caller #2: In my opinion, those three young men were the children of the state leaders. And, in order to cover it up, they say it was just training. (Note: “Children” in this Mongolian context does not mean literal children, rather “operatives.”)

Dorlig: Now, the officials are going to hide or cover everything up. Nobody’s going to apologize to its people. Those who were responsible must apologize to the Mongolian people.

Live Caller #3: There’s nothing serious. It’s just hooligans.

Dorlig: The saddest thing is that the officials are still covering this horrible act up. No one is going to tell the truth.

Anchor Jargalmaa: We’ve received information that MIAT officials have issued an apology [to the passengers].

Dorlig: That’s not true. But, even, if they apologized, that’s absolutely not enough. Those responsible must be punished and prevented from being elected or entered the government structures in the future. I have to say this on behalf of my people.

–:END TRANSCRIPT:–

The following are quotes from Members of Parliament from Umnugobi Aimag. The MP’s held a press conference on Tuesday after talking with passengers of the plane.

MP Baterdene:

“Passengers stated that throughout the flight four male passengers were drinking alcohol heavily. As soon as the plane landed in the Chinggis Khan airport of Ulaanbaatar and some of passengers left the plane, they suddenly jumped out of their seats brandishing guns. At the time four or five passengers remained in the plane. They shot in air and announced that the airplane was hijacked. They also hit one woman named Tumengherel, seriously wounding her lip. The hijackers acted very violently, tying up pilots, threatening the passengers. They even made impossible demands like flying the plane.”

MP Bayarsaikhan:

“Now these passengers under deep shock. They ask from us, “Where is our government? Why do they mock ordinary people and violate common rights of people?” Among the passengers were several representatives of local authority (Umnugobi Aimmag) as well as ordinary citizens. They all unanimously told about the cruelty of hijackers. According to passengers the hijackers waited until some part of passengers left the plane and then suddenly pick up these guns and announced that the plane was being hijacking. Hijackers demanded all passengers lie on floor face down and they hit one women. Then they penetrated pilot’s cabin and tied up the pilots. So we consider it a serious violation of constitutional rights of Mongolian citizen as well as a cruel police act which humiliated ordinary people.”

The following is a statement by the Vice Chairman of the Mongolian Central Intelligence Agency, Jargalsaikhan, about the “hijacking.” Delivered during an evening press conference on Tuesday and carried by Eagle TV.

What the Vice Chairman admits about Mongolia’s air security is a little more than alarming. I’m placing the most shocking statements in bold. I’m frankly shocked that this kind of admission would be made in public. But it was, so here it is.

“The results of the anti-hijacking exercise are: Firstly, it is quite possible to hijack a plane in Mongolia. This conclusion derived from the fact that some people today can smuggle weapons and explosives into Mongolian passenger plane which had flight from Dalanzadgad to Ulaanbaatar. So we can say that explosives and weapons could be smuggled into Mongolian passenger planes without problem. Therefore it is possible to hijack a plane using firearms and even explosives. “Secondly, we established that any kind of drugs and great amount of gold (410 gr of gold) could be smuggled through our custom’s controls without any problem, without any sophisticated smuggling techniques. Yes.

“Thirdly, in particular, we saw that in emergency situations our security and law enforcement organizations worked without any coordination, without any clear plan. In brief, I think it is needed to improve our information retrieving system as well as alarm control. Some people as well as some representatives of our mass media demand information about such exercises in advance. I think it is not so important as they consider. Because this is only begiinning, this is first phase of our activity.

“Thanks to this exercise we have learned some lessons. It is firstly, we learned that firearms as well as explosives could be smuggled into airplane. Secondly, our officers could smuggle over 800 gr of explosives into airport waiting room, and then into the plane. All our smuggling operations recorded via special video devices. We already sent official letter to the custom house authority, indicating all holes in security structure of the organization. We will also send similar document to the Frontier Guard Agency. So what kind of measures we must took in order to prevent real hijacking event? Some urgent preventive measures could be taken immediately, we consider. For example, we know some amount of explosives were sold through our blackmarkets because it is so easy to steal explosives from mining company storehouses. At last we must establish who is responsible for these drawbacks. I am ready to raise the problem as Vice Chairman of Mongolian Central Intelligence Agency. “

Screenshot of Eagle TV

UPDATE (10:40PM): Coverage of the “hjacking” will continue first thing in the morning and may run all day. Expect more updates in a few hours. We’ll be watching Parliament’s reaction to today’s events, talking with more passengers, and investigating the claims by the CIA and Prime Minister’s office regarding the claims contrary to eyewitness reports.

UPDATE (10:24PM): Circle the wagons! I just received a fax from the Prime Minister’s office stating that the CIA informed the Prime Minister that “normal citizens were not involved in the test.” The fax claims that only four citizens were involved, and they were recruited in advance – including the Aimag accountant who was threatened at gunpoint. The fax claims the plane was emptied before the hijacking was staged.

The claims in the fax are completely contrary to the eyewitness testimony, aired on Eagle TV throughout the day, as well as claims by the MPs representing the Aimag.

Some questions need to be asked:

• If the plane was emptied first, why did it take 90 minutes to deplane the passengers?
• Why do passengers tell a different story – that they were terrorized and assaulted?
• Why was it necessary to have a doctor check out the passengers when they deplaned if “normal citizens were not involved?”

UPDATE (10:05PM The Mongolian CIA gave TV5 a copy of a video tape they shot of the “planned action” inside the airplane. Eagle TV, the only station providing continuous coverage, was purposely left out, not given access to this vital piece of information. This is not surprising as TV5 has a well-known reputation for being “controlled.”

Eagle TV is free.

After airing the tape the journalists from TV5 declared that this was “just a test” and nothing big should be made of it.

Now that I’ve picked my chin up off the floor I have to wonder what they are using for brains at TV5. Come on guys, you are smarter than that. “Just a test?” Since when does a real journalist NOT question the validity of hijacking a plane and assaulting passengers for the sake of a test?

UPDATE (9:50PM): Right now we have on an official who heads security for the Ministry of Tourism who stated that it was the security office of the Ministry of Tourism that asked the CIA to conduct a security test – the test that became today’s hijacking. He stated that they did not know what kind of test would be performed, but they wanted to test the airport officials.

Now we have three agencies taking responsibility for today’s situation. I’m all for taking responsibility and owning up to mistakes, but guys, “We did it! No, we did it! No, we did it!” My head is spinning and now I”m having trouble keeping up.

When the Ministry of Tourism steps forward and says they wanted a test done – one that eventually became some kind of hijacking, some foreigners are going to wonder if flying to Mongolia is such a good idea.

In the midst of all these “explanations” there are some critical words missing that no one other than MIAT seems to be saying, “We blew it. We’re sorry.”

UPDATE (9:23PM): It just occured to me…the MCIA stated in their press conference that this hijacking was NOT a training event. Rather, it was what they called a “planned action” to test the responses of the airport and customs department. Holy cow, do they know what they just admitted? They just admitted that they staged a REAL HIJACKING.

I think foreign air authorities need to be looking into this situation and question the Mongolian authorities here about their practices. After all, according to reports a Japanese citizen was also on this flight and subjected to these abuses.

UPDATE (9:15PM): As promised here are quotes from passengers who were on the airplane during the staged terror hijacking:

“When I was leaving the airplane one pilot who already went out said that the airplane is being held hostage.”"They tied up one pilot and threatened the passengers with weapons. One lady from Umanugobi governor’s office was beaten. They demanded the pilot fly [the plane].”

We did not think this was training because no one informed us us about the training before hand. We were all in shock from this, as we have never seen such a thing in Mongolia.”

“MIAT cannot just apologize to Umnugobi passengers because the company abused our human rights and they insulted and assaulted the passengers.”

At the press conference held by Members of Parliament Munkhtuya, Bayarsaikhan, and Bat-Erdene, all from Umnugobi Aimag: “They used force against ordinary citizens without informing them previously, and so scare them.”

CIA official admits to the hijacking.

UPDATE (8:50PM): Just when you thought it could not get any worse, or more weird. The Deputy Director of the Mongolian CIA, Jargalsaikhan, held a press conference this evening announcing that the GOoCF was NOT responsible for the terror training, but that their office was really responsible for the training. They stated the purpose of the “planned action” was to test the operation of the customs office, and airport, to see how they handle terrorist situations. The result of the test was that both agencies failed in the test.

So, who is telling the truth? I’ve heard of multiple agencies denying responsibilty for a fiasco, but not multiple agencies taking credit for a fiasco. How are the Mongolian people to know who is telling the truth when two deputy directors of two government agencies are both claiming responsibility for what is the single most exposed violations of citizen’s human rights in the last year?

If the agencies responsible for security failed the test, what does this say about the agency or agencies that were responsible for organizing and executing it in the first place?

UPDATE (7:55PM): Just returned from a short trip out of the office. While out I received a call from the Prime Minister’s Spokesman, Su. Batbold, requesting that we tone down our coverage for fear that people watching the coverage will blame the government. In fact, at the moment he called we were doing a live interview with one of the passengers who was questioning why the government allowed this kind of situation to take place.

I’m not here to lay blame on specific parties or officials, but it is clear from the responses we are receiving that people do NOT want us to tone down or stop talking about what happened today. What they are doing is demanding answers.

Revealed in the last hour, according to two MPs interviewed by Eagle TV, multiple passengers were assaulted. The “hijackers” were drinking. The pilots were tied up and restrained. The passengers were so terrorized that they could do virtually nothing.

One person asked me, just a few moments ago, “If this was anti-terrorism training, then who was being trained? Terrorists?” Indeed, we have to wonder. There did not appear to be anyone who was being trained in anti-terror tactics. The only people on the scene that appeared to be doing anything were the State-sponsored pretend hijackers, terrorizing passengers.

So…who was being trained? Who took up the anti-terror position. And if it was people outside the plane, then why was it necessary to assautl the passengers, pilots, and send one woman to the hospital?

In case you are wondering, no, we are not toning down our coverage. I offered to the Prime Minister’s Spokesman to join us on-air. So far that offer is untaken.

UPDATE (6:50PM): I will have another update in about an hour with an eyewitness account from a passenger, and other new information. Short quips from passenger, Dorlig (Editor of Gobi News newspaper): “I saw the pilots were scared and shocked, and were not able to speak normally.” “The hijackers were drinking, using bad words, they were rude guys.” This eyewitness seems to refute Mr. Munkhjargal’s claim that the “hijackers” were not drunk (or drinking).

More soon…

Eagle TV anchor talks with callers about the hijacking, while video of the victims leaving the airport rolls.

UPDATE (6:16PM): We did not obtain proper permission to air the audio conversation with GOoCF Deputy Director Munkhjargal so we cannot play it directly on-air. However, we have excerpted the transcript and the quotes will air tonight. I wil also post them later.

What you are about to read should shock you to outrage.

The following information comes from today’s interview with Deputy Director Munkhjargal of the General Office of Civil Flight.

The 32 passengers and pilot of the plane were not informed that a hijacking exercise was going to take place. A gun was pointed at a real passenger by one of the pretend hijackers. That passenger was Tumengerel, the accountant of the Umnugobi’s Aimag’s governor’s office. (We confirmed through a separate source that when checked by a doctor after the “hijacking” Tumengerel’s blood pressure was at a dangerously high level of 200. She is now in the hospital, in shock, unable to speak). Munkhjargal denied eyewitness reports that a woman was assaulted on the plane by a “hijacker.” The pilot was assaulted, shoved back, and did not know the event was staged. He thought it was a real hijacking. Munkhjargal defended the exercise as one that is conducted every year.

As I write this Members of Parliament representing Umnugobi Aimag are now investigating and have declared they will openly question the Prime Minister about this situation during tomorrow’s session of Parliament. A video crew from Eagle TV is on it’s way to see Tumengerel in the hospital. At least one passenger has come forward to give a live eyewitness account of the events that will air tonight on Eagle TV.

I cannot help but express my dismay and outrage at what has taken place today. In the name of a State-sponsored security exercise the passangers of this Mongolian Airlines flight were held against their will and assaulted. The victims who were physically assaulted by the pretend hijackers on the plane were not actors – but real passengers who thought their lives were in danger. It can be argued that in one sense they were being hijacked. They had no knowledge that the event was staged, and the people on the plane were really assaulted.

That this was an “exercise” is inexcusable. There are far better and more acceptable and effective ways to conduct anti-terrorism exercises without having to involve and assault real passengers and the worry of their families who were under equal impression that their loved ones had been hijacked.

The agencies have apologized to the passengers, but an apology from MIAT and COoCF is not enough. The government should launch an investigation of the policies and procedures for these kinds of exercises. Those responsible for these reprehensible actions should be dismissed from their jobs.

We must ask if criminal charges are appropriate.

One other things to note: Of the 12 TV stations in Ulaanbaatar, none have offered live coverage of this event. Only Eagle TV is bringing nonstop news, investigating the story. The other stations are playing movies, children programs, and such. I cannot help but wonder why.

UPDATE (5:35PM): I’ve just received a piece of information about today’s staged hijacking, that if true, would be absolutely outrageous behavior for a State agency or airline to engage in. The information comes from our interview with the GOoCF. I’m waiting for an exact translation of the text to be sure the information is correct.

If I were a passenger on a plane and this happened, based upon the information we are checking now, I’d sue the airline and government office responsible. Hang tight. If this is what we think it is I’ll have it up in the next 5-10 minutes.

UPDATE (4:53PM): The interview with the Deputy Director of GOoCF will air shortly. In the interview Mr. Munkhjargal will state that the exercise was held according to procedure, but that mistakes were made. He stated that MIAT has already apologized to the passengers and will make a public apology if necessary. We are waiting to confirm with MIAT regarding the apologies. Munkhjargal denied that the four men executing the exercise were drunk, and that the delay of the flight from Beijing had any relationship to the botching of the exercise.

UPDATE (4:25PM: Journalist Erdenbulun is interviewing GOoCF Deputy Director Munkhjargal in his office right now. He has refused to appear on camera, but agreed to an audio interview, which we will air the moment the tape arrives.

UPDATE 3:47PM: Hat tip to TV8 who started live coverage with an interview claiming the men who took part in the exercise – i.e., THE GUNMEN – were drunk! We are trying to get separate confirmation of TV8’s report.

It’s not to early to say that somebody needs to lose his job over this.

UPDATE 3:15PM: The information now given to us is that this in fact was not a hijacking, but a security exercise. MIAT, on whose airline the exercise was executed, claims they were not responisble, but rather the State organization that conducted the exercise, “General Office of Civil Flight.” The director of GOoCF, Batmunkh told Eagle TV producer, Oyuntungalag, “Yes, we are the one’s who organized this exercise and it was done successfully.”

Successfully done? Passengers witnessed a hijacking exercise that was begun before they finished deplaning and apparently thought the plane was really being hijacked, and a doctor had to check passengers as they deplaned. The exercise was “successfully done?” I’d hate to see a failure.

Eagle TV reporters are on their way to talk to the Deputy Director of the GOoCF, as well as back to the airport for more video. Stay with me for another update shortly, and more screen caps from our live coverage.

UPDATE 2:46PM: One of our reporters was told by an official with Emergency Office of the Mongolian government that the EO had no involvement and that this was an exercise by MIAT. However, an official with MIAT remarked to another reporter that an urgent meeting was held of MIAT officials and the problem was “solved.” When asked just what the problem was, the person remarked, “I don’t know.”

You know, it would be a simpy thing for MIAT or the appropriate agency to send a spokesperson out the media covering the situation and make a simple statement like “exercise” or “hijacking,” and “we’ll give you more information as soon as we have it,” and then ask journalists to standby. Instead, by refusing to say anything, and then passing on multiple opportunities to clear things up, they are creating an even worse situation ripe for speculation.

UPDATE 2:30PM: I’m watching a replay of the video coverage with security personnel on the tarmac and police vans waiting for something. If this was an exercise, it was a boneheaded execution.

The authorities had a doctor on the scene taking the blood pressure of passengers when they got off the plane. Also, a flight from Beijing was delayed by an hour, but know one is sure if the flight was delayed as a result of this situation.

UPDATE 2:06PM:The latest summary provided to me: The MIAT plane coming from Umnugobi Aimag landed at 11:40am. The passengers could not get off the plane until 1:10pm (90 minutes). As the passengers were finally deplaning, two-to-three men changed their attire to look like hijackers and began a “hijacking.” According to witnesses, at least one “hijacker” was armed and struck a woman on the plane. Other passengers were manhandled and the pilot may have been beaten.

Was this staged for training or a real hijacking? No one is saying. The remaining passengers who witnessed the action were alarmed. The beatings seemed to eyewitnesses to be real. To the remaining passengers it looked like a real hijacking. However, even by 2:30pm the authorites are not providing any information about whether it was an exercise or real.

Hello? If this was an exercise, who was the genius who decided to begin staging it while the passengers were deplaning? If this was not an exercise, why are authorites not saying plainly what the situation is? Any why did it take 90 minutes to get the passengers off when there was no apparent sign of a “hijacking” at the beginning?

Watch this space for an update soon.

ORIGINAL POST: We are covering a live story right now about a situation at Chinggis Khan International Airport where a MIAT plane may have been hijacked. The situation is unclear. Is it a hijacking or a security excersie? No one seems to know. Watch this space for updates every 15-minutes as we learn more.

Yeah, I knew that headline would get your attention. But according to one researcher, it’s apparently true. OMIGOSH! This article reads like a joke from the Daily Show. This is just too good to pass up. To use a “chick word,” this article is just “precious.”

From the London Daily Mail (yes guys, it’s okay to laugh hysterically through this article):

WOMEN TALK THREE TIMES AS MUCH AS MEN, STUDY SAYSIt is something one half of the population has long suspected – and the other half always vocally denied. Women really do talk more than men.

In fact, women talk almost three times as much as men, with the average woman chalking up 20,000 words in a day – 13,000 more than the average man.

Women also speak more quickly, devote more brainpower to chit-chat – and actually get a buzz out of hearing their own voices, a new book suggests.

The book – written by a female psychiatrist – says that inherent differences between the male and female brain explain why women are naturally more talkative than men.

In The Female Mind, Dr Luan Brizendine (Note: Is this chick named after an allergy drug?) says women devote more brain cells to talking than men.

And, if that wasn’t enough, the simple act of talking triggers a flood of brain chemicals which give women a rush similar to that felt by heroin addicts when they get a high. (Note: Careful Tom, don’t say anything here. Just be cool.)

Dr Brizendine, a self-proclaimed feminist, says the differences can be traced back to the womb, where the sex hormone testosterone moulds the developing male brain.

The areas responsible for communication, emotion and memory are all pared back the unborn baby boy.

The result is that boys – and men – chat less than their female counterparts and struggle to express their emotions to the same extent.

“Women have an eight-lane superhighway for processing emotion (duh), while men have a small country road,” said Dr Brizendine, who runs a female “mood and hormone” clinic in San Francisco. (Mood and hormone clinic? Is that like a heroin-equivilency clinic for women?)

There are, however, advantages to being the strong, silent type. Dr Brizendine explains that testosterone also reduces the size of the section of the brain involved in hearing – allowing men to become “deaf” to the most logical (???) of arguments put forward by their wives and girlfriends. (Huh? What was that? Huh?)

Oh man. I just have to believe that this article is joke by the editors. But hey, it’s a serious newspaper, so I guess it’s legitimate for a guy to sometimes say, “That woman just won’t shut up!” Hey, don’t blame me. Blame Doc Benzine or whatever her name is. I forget. I wasn’t listening.

Offended? Lighten up baby.

The nails in the coffin of macro-evolutionary theory just keep getting pounded. There may be more nails in the coffin than wood! The latest nail may be a new study of human genes revealing that human beings are far more genetically diverse from one another – and from animals, than previously thought. Here’s the latest tidbit from the U.K.’s, The Independent:

The findings mean that instead of humanity being 99.9 per cent identical, as previously believed, we are at least 10 times more different between one another than once thought – which could explain why some people are prone to serious diseases.The studies published today have found that instead of having just two copies of each gene – one from each parent – people can carry many copies, but just how many can vary between one person and the next.The studies suggest variations in the number of copies of genes is normal and healthy. But the scientists also believe many diseases may be triggered by an abnormal loss or gain in the copies of some key genes.

Another implication of the finding is that we are more different to our closest living relative, the chimpanzee, than previously assumed from earlier studies. Instead of being 99 per cent similar, we are more likely to be about 96 per cent similar.

Keep in mind that the 96 percent figure is speculation; an actual comparison based upon the new research has not been done. Suffice it to say that if human beings are 10 times more genetically diverse than previously thought, why would we be any less diverse from Bonzo?

Yes, it’s early to make conclusions of the data based upon a short quip in a science article, but Holy Cow (there’s not such thing), the more we discover the more we learn about the impossibility of macro-evolution.

Maybe macro-evolution doesn’t need a coffin. We can’t really bury what never existed in the first place.

More than any other, Thanksgiving embodies both religious and political freedoms, and puts them in their proper place.

Of the numerous holidays Americans celebrate each year, Thanksgiving is uniquely American, and uniquely Christian.

In the early 1600s a small group of devoutly religious men and women sought to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience. These Pilgrims broke from the Anglican church and were persecuted from England to Holland until they boarded the Mayflower and set sail for the New World. The Pilgrims were separatists, seeking to restore the true nature of the Gospel to Christian practices from what they believed were the pollutants of Catholicism and the Anglican Church.

Upon arrival, before disembarking their vessel they signed an agreement known as the Mayflower Compact. The text of the agreement included a vision for a new government:

“Solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politick, for our better ordering and preservation, and furthering of the ends foresaid: and by virtue to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony; unto which we all promise all due submission and obedience.”

It was this band of Pilgrims, after having lost half their population to an extreme winter, that stuck to the vision laid out in the Mayflower Compact. They were thankful for more than surviving harsh weather, they were also thankful that God has preserved their society and would see it to its conclusion.

Most interesting about the Mayflower Pilgrims is what they did considering who they were. Essentially, they were normal men and women, devoutly religious, who wanted more than to escape the religious pollutions from the home they left. They wanted to build a new society with a new government founded upon the principles they held dear. Those principles were uniquely Christian, and planted the seeds of what would eventually become American liberties.

The Mayflower Compact stated its purpose for the new colony’s existence: The “advancement of the Christian faith” and formation of a “civil body politick.” If the Compact made anything clear, it was that the new government of the colony proceeded from the religious convictions of the colonists – religious freedom giving birth to political freedom.

In the 21st century we tend to turn things around. We view religious freedom as a guarantee of the State instead of a transformation of the heart. Even under the former regime of the Soviet Union, effective missionary work was viewed as a limited possibility as long as the communist remained in power. When the Iron Curtain fell, American missionary activity surged in the former Evil Empire. Yet American Christians working in Russia discovered that the Russian Church was alive and well. Likewise, American churches have discovered that in communist China a revival is taking place that will surely transform millions in that country. And many of those who have been transformed by their freedom in Christ have turned to political activism to try and free the nation from the grip of communism.

The Mayflower Pilgrims did not develop their convictions about religion, society, or government after they came to the New World. They had those convictions under the heavy hand of religious persecution in their native land. When they came to the New World they could have refused self-government. Instead they established their society for their own preservation. That government and the ones that followed were built squarely upon the foundation laid in their shared faith convictions. Those that would follow in the wake of the Mayflower and the footsteps of William Bradford and the colony he led, would enact laws and draft constitutions guided by many of those same principles Those early founding documents include, The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, and The Massachusetts Body of Liberties. Most of the first State Constitutions contained language that placed the burden for the survival of America upon the backs of those who lived according to the principles set down in the Bible.

The concept of liberty has changed in the last three centuries. What we think of as liberty today is anathema to the colonists of the Mayflower. Their reasons for declaring a day of Thanksgiving were quite different than the reasons most Americans celebrate the holiday today.

Let us reclaim the holiday’s original meaning. On Thanksgiving take time to read the account that William Bradford wrote of the Plymouth Plantation. For each day after we should let the principles of those first Americans guide our ideas of religious and political freedom.