Should the motto "In God We Trust" be removed from U.S. currency?

[ironsides]

Does it infringe upon the "separation of Church and State issue"


Should the motto "In God We Trust" be removed from U.S. currency?

Live Vote: Should ‘In God We Trust’ be yanked? - Faith- msnbc.com

 

[karrie]

If someone can pin the statement to one church, rather than to a greater sense of spirituality, then yes, remove it from the currency.


But, last I checked, that statement being on American currency gives no church power over the government.

 

[Cliffy]

God is a rather generic term. It really has nothing to do with church. Most people these days who claim to believe in a god don't go to church on a regular basis. On the other hand, governments are so corrupt that most people need a god just to get through the day. because they sure as hell can't trust the government.

 

[#juan]

I see no reason to change. "In God we Trust" has been on the currency for a hell of a long time. A century old tradition that dates back to a kinder, gentler, time, is more important than some politically correct illusion that will be forgotten in a year.

 

[Cliffy]

I see no reason to change. "In God we Trust" has been on the currency for a hell of a long time. A century old tradition that dates back to a kinder, gentler, time, is more important than some politically correct illusion that will be forgotten in a year.

juan,

You are an optimist I presume. "Quieter, gentler time" when they were busy slaughtering Indians, buffalo and passenger pigeons by the millions, all in the name of their god.:-(

 

[YukonJack]

This question was obviously, raised by some s--t-disturber.

Hopefully he/she will have the courage, and decency to refuse to own, use, spend a single piece of currency, whatever denomination, that are displaying those words.

 

[lone wolf]

What has Good Ordered Discipline to do with any Church?

 

[#juan]

juan,

You are an optimist I presume. "Quieter, gentler time" when they were busy slaughtering Indians, buffalo and passenger pigeons by the millions, all in the name of their god.:-(

I wasn't around for the slaughtering of the buffalo. Nor have I ever seen a Passenger Pigeon, and I don't think these animals were killed in the "name of God" We used to have wars where we were right, like stopping Hitler for example. Today all the wars seem tied to oil or some other commodity. I obviously haven't thought too deeply on this topic but I see no reason to throw out a hundred year old tradition for some dopey PC paranoia.

 

[Said1]

Who cares, it's their dollar.

 

[darkbeaver]

I wasn't around for the slaughtering of the buffalo. Nor have I ever seen a Passenger Pigeon, and I don't think these animals were killed in the "name of God" We used to have wars where we were right, like stopping Hitler for example. Today all the wars seem tied to oil or some other commodity. I obviously haven't thought too deeply on this topic but I see no reason to throw out a hundred year old tradition for some dopey PC paranoia.

Hilter was stopped along with millions of others but we did not win the war, it remains unresolved. The dollar will disappear soon anyway. Why bother with change? God's a good idea, as long as you don't make assumptions about her that aren't true.

 

[#juan]

juan,

You are an optimist I presume. "Quieter, gentler time" when they were busy slaughtering Indians, buffalo and passenger pigeons by the millions, all in the name of their god.:-(

One more thing. In my lifetime, and the lifetime of my father, we never slaughtered any Indians. For just about all my lifetime we have been paying the Indians to do nothing.......Probably worse than slaughtering them.

 

[L Gilbert]

Seems to me that the Christian god got a wee bit pissed when people associated gods with gold. I think it's funny that the US would actually do something like that and call themselves Christian. lol

 

[Francis2004]

Does it infringe upon the "separation of Church and State issue"


Should the motto "In God We Trust" be removed from U.S. currency?

Live Vote: Should ‘In God We Trust’ be yanked? - Faith- msnbc.com

I think the saying in recent times was much better then "In Banks we Trust".. Stay with what was proven.. God did not go bankrupt..

 

[Cliffy]

One more thing. In my lifetime, and the lifetime of my father, we never slaughtered any Indians. For just about all my lifetime we have been paying the Indians to do nothing.......Probably worse than slaughtering them.

Ah! But you were talking about a hundred years ago and tradition. That is what North America was built on. We have not been paying the Indians to do nothing, we were paying for their land. I doubt that a few dollars a month (what the treaties allocated) can support anybody.

 

[Niflmir]

Well, the secularist movement has had a long tradition in the US, with some of my preferred advocates coming from the 19th century. I don't really think its just a passing PC fad.

Fiat currency is of course symbolic of the nation from which it belongs. Most people reading it will understand that it in fact refers to the Christian god--equivocations notwithstanding--and this fact gives political power to these groups. If it is a tradition to have Christian mottos on currency, why not Christian practices in courts and in law. This is the secularist idea of removing it.

More practically, at some point currency needs to change to make counterfeiting more difficult. There is no reason to keep anything other than the denumeration on any given bill, otherwise people will come to recognize the currency with this feature and thus make passing off counterfeit easier. The removal shouldn't even be an issue.

Although many people say that it is an issue because there are people who want to see the bill change (for many, different reasons), there are people who see it as an attack on their religion, which strikes them at a personal level. Thus it is an issue, where it should be a non-issue.

 

[#juan]

Ah! But you were talking about a hundred years ago and tradition. That is what North America was built on. We have not been paying the Indians to do nothing, we were paying for their land. I doubt that a few dollars a month (what the treaties allocated) can support anybody.

The whole Department of Indian and Northern affairs 7 billion dollars a year cluster...k is a whole other topic that I won't go into here.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

wasn't around for the slaughtering of the buffalo. Nor have I ever seen a Passenger Pigeon, and I don't think these animals were killed in the "name of God"

That is not quite correct, Juan. I have read somewhere that white man decided to kill the animals (buffalo, bears, wolves etc.) precisely in the name of God. Their aim was to evangelize the Indians. Indians regarded many of these animals (wolves, bears etc) as holy, as sacred.

White man’s argument was that if he can kill off the animals, he can prove to the Indian that his Gods were the weak Gods (since they could not prevent the slaughter), that Jesus was the stronger God (since he was able to destroy the holy icons of the Indians), and will decide to embrace the stronger religion, the only true religion, Christianity.

The wholesale slaughter of the animals that white man embarked upon can be explained at least party by reference to Christian God.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

As to the issue itself, I don’t have strong feelings one way or the other. I will go along with whatever the courts decide (and I think courts have decided that the motto stays).

 

[Niflmir]

As to the issue itself, I don’t have strong feelings one way or the other. I will go along with whatever the courts decide (and I think courts have decided that the motto stays).

Common law courts are rightly very conservative entities--although many people do not realize this--but on this issue they have me saddened. The origin of this motto in the established government can be traced to a Protestant campaign to add references to God to the constitution and other federal documents. It was made the national motto in 1956 to distinguish the country from communism, the secular "E Pluribus Unum" being, apparently, much too atheist and Marxist.

The courts reasoning is that it is entirely secular, "...we find that a reasonable observer, aware of the purpose, context, and history of the phrase 'In God we trust,' would not consider its use or its reproduction on U.S. currency to be an endorsement of religion."

Apparently they have a different history book than me. I'll leave with the (secular?) context of the phrase, from none other than Rev. Watkinson himself:

This would make a beautiful coin, to which no possible citizen could object. This would relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism. This would place us openly under the Divine protection we have personally claimed. From my hearth I have felt our national shame in disowning God as not the least of our present national disasters.

 

[EagleSmack]

Ah! But you were talking about a hundred years ago and tradition. That is what North America was built on. We have not been paying the Indians to do nothing, we were paying for their land. I doubt that a few dollars a month (what the treaties allocated) can support anybody.

As long as it is a shared responsibility as far as Indians. Last time I checked they aren't so happy with Canadian treatment. At any rate... my ancestors were in Ireland and Newfoundland during all that.

My hands are clean baby!