Tell Your Representative to Oppose Divisive 'In God We Trust' Resolution!

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.CON.RES.13:

On March 17, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee approved House Concurrent Resolution 13, a measure that would unnecessarily reaffirm the divisive phrase “In God We Trust” as our national motto and encourage its display in all public and government buildings. The resolution will now go to the full House of Representatives for a vote. 



The Secular Coalition for America opposes this symbolic resolution because the term “In God We Trust” is not inclusive of the beliefs of all Americans, specifically atheists, agnostics, humanists and other nontheistic Americans, but also the millions of religious Americans whose beliefs do not entail the use of the word “god.” The phrase itself was not adopted as our nation’s official motto until 1956, at the height of McCarthyism and the Cold War. It is entirely inappropriate to brand a secular nation such as ours with a religious motto that creates division among citizens and erodes the wall of separation between church and state.



If the phrase “In God We Trust” does not represent your views, or if you believe it is an improper motto for our secular government, please contact your representative and ask them to oppose H. Con. Res. 13. If you are a nontheist, we encourage you to explain that in your letter as well.

http://action.secular.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=6228

Sincerely,


Sean Faircloth
Executive Director
Secular Coalition for America

The one thing a vast majority of Americans believe in is God. Weather he is called God, Allah or Buddha. It needs to stay.

Isn't America great, you can not believe in a higher power and most people don't care. Go into a local store and tell people you want to remove that phrase from America, let me know the response you get.

Can I get some of whatever you are smoking?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

How many gods do you believe in?

I add new ones all the time.

You read like a bad parody of a right-winger.



>The one thing

There's nothing else? Nothing that unites rather than dividing?



>a vast majority of Americans believe in

About 15% of Americas are not religious. So that's a large majority, but not an overwhelming one - certainly not enough to justify ignoring the ones who aren't.

> is God.

This, I think, is where you really give away that you're not thinking about the people who disagree with you. "belief in God" - explicitly the Christian God in the minds of those passing this legislation, although some of them may dishonestly pretend it's more inclusive - is not the same thing as "belief in a god or gods"; it is the former and not the latter that this motto is about.



>Weather

Whether



> he is called God, Allah or Buddha.

Those are three very different religious figures, not three names for the same thing. The proposed motto is about supporting the former and opposing the latter two, and trying to claim it is not is a black lie.



> It needs to stay.

No, it needs to be deemed a violation of the first ammendment and repealed.



America should have a motto that does not endorse the religious beliefs of 75% of the country and condemn those of the remaining 25%.

You don't seem to know much about religion.


http://www.godisimaginary.com

Who says that "god" is a "he" by the way? "Jesus" has some claim on being male - if he actually existed. "The Holy Spirit" seems ambiguous. Is "the Holy Spirit" male or female or some superposition of the two?

Is it necessary for "god" to have a gender? Does it need to reproduce? Or is it necessary for "god" to be the "father" for an authoritarian metaphor aimed at keeping strict discipline imposed on the "children"?

Wouldn't it be more convenient (in terms of avoiding "sin", "nudity" and all that other stuff) if "god" were to not have gender and reproduce through mitosis?

Actually, why would "god" even need to reproduce? If it did so by whatever means, wouldn't that supplant the idea of the "trinity"? It would be difficult to keep up with the proper take on theology - at least, the bible would definitely need to be rewritten with a more flexible and scalable framework for theology.

P.S. If you actually are concerned with the Christian religion, why aren't you bothering to capitalize your references to "Him"?

P.P.S. And why aren't you more concerned with orthography in general? You should know your Bible at least this well:

Nesbit 4:20-21 "He who takes to the Lord's defense in writing is blessed in as much as his work is righteous. Thus is the beginning of grace and truth in the light of the Lord."

What god does it represent?

:sarcasm:

I am sure it clarifies in the bill..but I am sure it is the christian one.

but you never know. No:sarcasm: .

Cannot freaking believe our Reps are wasting cycles on crap like this.

Why the HELL are they wastiong time on things like this when America is still in the condition we are in!

WHERE ARE THE JOBS SPEAKER BOEHNER??????

Sadly enough.

was just part of the 50's anti-communist fracas..

During the Civil War, several different versions were offered to be used by the US Mint on certain coins. The original version comes from the last stanza of the national Anthem, "...And this be our motto: In God is our trust. And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave, O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave." Salmon P. Chase, then Secretary of the Treasury chose, "In God We Trust", and it was first used on some coins, (notably the 2-cent piece), in 1864.

It was used off and on on various coins until 1909. During the height of the cold war, on July 11, 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed Public Law 140 making it mandatory that all coinage and paper currency display the motto.

So it has remained since July of 1955...basically because atheism was seen as a pillar of Communist thought. It is most likely, that with out the Red Scare fueled by McCarthy, et al; the motto would not have been used.

We certainly don't need more Teahadist nonsense from the no-jobs-creating GOP "leaders" in Congress. :crazy:

When my high school advanced placement social studies classes went to Washington, DC in the spring of 1963, we got the chance to meet with the great Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black.

One of my classmates asked Black whether having "In God We Trust" on the currency wasn't unconstitutional -- and he answered without hesitation that of course it was "but we'd never get away with saying so."

It doesn't seem to me like things have changed much since then.

E plurabus unum, IIRC. But I suspect we're going to be on the losing end of this one.

What a waste of time for the GOP.

What pisses me off is that I have to spend my time speaking against this low hanging fruit that the GOP is going after.

I know I do.

And this time, the Rebels would easily win.