In God Dog We Trust

Recently, in a forum argument, a theist / believer made the statement that "The United States was Founded on the Christian God, that is why we are 'One Nation Under God' and why we have 'In God We Trust' on our money." There is so much wrong with that statement that I don't even know where to begin, it is a topic for another LONG post. What he said next though is what I want to

talk about today.

The person then went on to say "I can understand how you atheists would be offended by this since you don't believe in God, however I think it is more that you fear his existence and want to take others down with you."

I wont comment on his hateful statement that we want others to go to hell with us because that is just not true, the majority of atheists love their fellow man more than any Christian ever could. However I would like to comment on the statement that we are offended by the use of God in the national pledge, on our money and so on.

While I don't speak for the atheist community, I can say that personally I do not find it "offensive". Most atheists like myself find that it violates the whole separation of church and state and the secular values that this nation was founded on. The believers can argue any way they want, but the fact remains, The United States was formed as a secular nation. Yes, religion played a part (we came to America to escape religious oppression and intolerance), but the government was designed as, and always intended to be, secular.

The phrase "In God We Trust" occasionally appeared on our currency through out history, usually during times of great national strife, such as the Civil war, however it was never a mainstay on our printed or minted currency, nor was it ever a national motto. Like it or not our Motto is "E Pluribus Unum" or "Out of Many, One", which is meant to signify the diversity of peoples and religions that made up this nation. "In God We Trust" was brought in and placed on our printed currency in 1957 as a propaganda piece against our enemies, the Godless Russian Communists.

I know it seems like such a small thing: "In God we trust".... "One nation under God" and so on. But, as with everything else, if you give an inch they will take a mile. Religion is being forced down our throats at all turns, and God on our money and in our pledge was just the inch they needed.

And its not just a universal God, no, it is the Christian God. Ten Commandments in court houses, nativity scenes on government property and so on. I have never seen a Hindu scene on public land during the festival of Deepavali. I have never seen anything related to the prophet Muhammad during Idul Fitri or Idul Adah. I could go on with plenty of examples from other religions. If the right of public religious display extended to ALL religions then we might be more accepting, but it doesn’t. Not only does it not extend to all religions but if someone of a different religion tried to openly show these symbols of their faith in the wrong parts of the country they would be murdered.

As if that wasn't bad enough, now they want to teach creationism and abstinence in public schools. Some schools are already teaching creationism and, thanks to President Bushwacked, abstinence is the only thing most schools are allowed to teach. Public schools are run by the government and must remain secular, religion has no place in public schools. Religion should be taught in church, temple, mosque or where ever you worship and / or in your own home. If you want it taught in school then send your kids to a private school and pay for that type of education. Keep it out of the public schools which are funded with tax payer money. Not every taxpayer believes in your God. If you think teaching kids about sex is wrong, then remove your kids from sex education class, but don’t forbid others from getting much needed education because YOU don’t agree with it. That is just stupid and wrong. Especially when America has the highest teenage birth rates in the developed world! How can it be possible that in the developed world the United States is the most religious and has the highest instances of teenage pregnancy? Shouldn’t that be the other way around? It all comes down to human nature and hypocrisy.

Next thing, and it won’t be far off, you wont be allowed to work in certain jobs unless you are Christian, trust me it isn’t far away if the the "moral-right" have anything to do with it. And it will just get worse from there. This has got to stop.

So yes, get God off our money, out of our pledge and out of our schools. Do it now before "Land of the free and home of the brave" turns into "Land of the hypocritical christian zealots and home of the enslaved infidels". (And by infidels I mean those who believe in anything other than the Christian God. Contrary to the current redneck, right-wing, bible basing Christians of today, the word 'infidel' has been widely used in the Christian faith. It is not a word exclusive to Islam.)