To say "In God We Trust" is to say that there is a "we" of unified belief in a deity. This is not true.
If I were to put a poster of a swimsuit model up in my office, this would be deemed harassment. I would have created a hostile work environment for my coworkers without saying a word.
Perhaps not the best metaphor, but the same goes for putting "In God We Trust" on our money, having our schoolchildren declare their allegiance daily to a nation under God, and having prayer open Senate sessions. By doing these things, we are saying "not welcome" to people who do not believe in the monotheist's god. It is exclusive, divisive, and contrary to the spirit of our nation.
My opinion that "In God We Trust" should not be on our money is not founded in ungodliness, atheism, or any anti-religious sentiment. All people most certainly have the right to relate to the divine in any way they choose. It is for precisely that reason that our government's actions should not put one belief before another. You don't have to believe in the Judeo-Christian god to be an American. Thus the "We" is a misnomer, and makes people feel as if this country does not want or respect them.
The issue of what the founding fathers wanted is one of fervent debate. I posit that it doesn't really matter one way or the other. These are people who decided to keep slavery legal and that women shouldn't vote -- their opinions on social matters don't carry as much weight as they used to. If the whole lot of them had signed a document that clearly said "we're a Christian nation", I would say that we should throw that doctrine away.
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An interesting thing about the pledge of allegiance is that the "under God" part wasn't in the original version. And it was written by a man of the cloth.
I'm torn on this. I can't help but think it was (and is) less of a religious statement than an attempt to side with the concept of goodness, and the closest thing most people associate ultimate goodness with is God. To put "in goodness we trust" doesn't have the punch, but might be more inclusive.
Would it be right to strike it completely and leave no universal appeal to Man's better nature?
In Truth and Justice we trust? In Supes we trust?
Well said Greg, though I have a few points to add. "In God We Trust" is the official motto of the United States as codified by law. Laws can easily be changed for sure, but challenges against this motto itself, and its usage on currency have already been addressed, most notably in Aronow v. United States (1970) whereby the Court held that "In God We Trust" in fact, does not, promote the establishment of a government sponsored religion. That aspect of the 1st ammendment was added to prevent another "Church of England"-esque fiasco from happening here on our shores.
Further, over 90% of 300 million Americans are in favor of the nation's motto...A staggering number to be sure, but if we are to suppose that the nation's motto should be off the all legal tender, and indeed stricken itself, we're fully ignoring the wish of the vast majority of Americans. (Not that it hasn't hapened before though)
And what of Christmas? It is a Federal holiday after all...Should it still be? Try to proclaim Christmas no longer a Federal holiday, and watch bedlam ensue...
The fact remains, that though the Government recognizes a Deity, that, in and of itself, is not indicative of a State sponsored religion.
If you watch the followong video it may be detrimental to your belief that this country was not founded on Christian principles:
http://www.interviewwithgod.com/patriotic/highband.htm
The only reason you beleive that is because you were taught that in textbooks that from about 50-60 yrs ago took out alot of our history. Like this simple fact, I was taught in school that the main reason our founding fathers wanted independence from Britain was becasue of "taxation without representation", the interesting thing about that is the fact that was number 17 on a list of 26. If you really want your belief system rocked look up the first textbooks ever written in this country, it is called the New England Primer, you can can copies of them, and look at what they were taught. If you look for the reason school was even started you will find that it was started to teach kids to read so they could read the bible. You never heard that before. I hope that you will look up what I am telling you to prove me wrong, you will find that there is much truth about our history that you will have never heard.
It doesn't bother me and I think folks who get bent out of shape over this and Christmas decorations or Nativity scenes in public places including court houses should find some real issues in society to get worked up about.
1) You don't have to use printed money or coins. Debit cards, checks, PayPal, etc. are "God-Less".
2) Money and what's depicted on it has used by all countries to promote their culture, except for maybe the Euro.
3) If you don't like it, invent a time time machine and go back in history and stop this from happening.
;-)
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