Isn't it time to remove "In God we trust" from our money?
73I know that some readers of this article will be those who are deeply religious and will not be in agreement at all. No doubt you believe that our careless lack of respect for your god will cause him or it to rain destruction down upon us. You'd like us to be a "Christian Nation" and of course such a nation would be doing far more than just giving lip service through a few mottos.
You, however, are crazy. I'm sorry, there's no nice way to say it. The rest of us believe that you have every right to your incredible beliefs and we will work hard to make sure that you will always be free to have, practice and express your religion. We do that even though you wouldn't give us the same freedom, so I guess we're a bit crazy too.
This article is not for you. It's also not for those awful atheists (I'm one) who are even more responsible for the wrath that you keep warning us about. Instead, it is for the more sensible religious folk who make up the vast majority of Americans. You, know: the lip service people. The people who understand that earthquakes and volcanoes are natural, not divine. The people who know that only we are responsible for starving children and the carnage of war. Those people.
One last thing for the "wrath of god" folks
Don't bother to leave a comment warning the rest of us of our heedless disregard of impending punishment. I moderate comments and yours will be instantly deleted. As I said, this is not for you.
For the rest of you
I know you think it's a pleasant sentiment to have on our coins. You may be about to dismiss me with the thought of "Where is the harm?", but stay for just another minute if you can and hear me out.
First, you do know that this motto is divisive and inaccurate. In fact, "We" do not trust in any gods. Many American Buddhists have no such trust or belief. Atheists certainly do not, agnostics do not and even many of you would be much more accurately described as "deists" than anything else. Deists believe, but they certainly don't "trust" that their god is going to right any wrongs or punish the wicked.
Only a tiny number of you believe that any god is "active" in our world. You either think that your god is "hands off" or that Man's free will is obviously paramount.
Your god is in more of an advisory role than that of a ruler.
A more accurate motto might be "Most of us think the idea of an active God is rather unlikely, though we do like the moral code expressed in our religion", but that would take up a lot of space on a penny, wouldn't it?
What did our Founders think?
I'm honestly quite astonished that those of you who describe yourselves as "strict Constitutional conservatives" favor this motto. You often rail on about the "intent" of the Founders and get into truly twisty arguments citing this or that from their writings to prove your point that we have strayed too far from their design.
Yet here we do not have to guess or interpret at all. To your right you can see an example of the very coinage those Founders designed and used in their daily business. Click on them to see larger images. Examine them closely. There are no godly mottos on any of those coins. The mottos our Founders valued were "Liberty" and "E Pluribus Unum". That's what they ordered inscribed on our money.
By the way, if you'd like to see more examples of early U.S. Coinage, I recommend PCGS Photograde(tm) OnLine. You won't find anything but "Liberty" and "E Pluribus Unum" until many decades of designs had passed the muster of Congress and citizens alike. We stayed with the mottos our Founders had thought to be important.
A religious Congress perverted those designs in 1864. You can see that coin under the other: it was the very first to ever have "In God We Trust". No Founder had input into that decision, of course.
Somehow the United States managed to survive and prosper almost an entire century without any religious sentiments on its money. Isn't that amazing?
It's time for change
It's time - far past time - to abandon these mottos. They have caused enough division and have no legitimate claim to be there.
Yes, I know that this would upset the crazies. Honestly, aren't you just a little bit tired of them having so much influence on our politics? Yes, they'll scream that this would make is a "godless" nation. Were we "godless" in 1776? You and I both know the answer to that.
Removing that motto would send a message to those who are trying to destroy religious freedom by imposing their specific religious beliefs upon the rest of us. You and I certainly may agree with some of their opinions or we may not, but that's hardly the point, is it? What should matter is that we are a nation of freedom and that we reach decisions by consensus among ourselves, not from the teachings of one specific religious creed.
It is time for those mottos to go.
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Yes, @Healthy Pursuits. I'd agree with my pantless pal that this is hardly a critical subject, but sheesh: look through the feed - how much IS critical? This is important - less important than a lot of other political issues, but still important.
More important than fruit cake recipes, anyway :-)
Pcunix - You usually delete my comments before anyone can see them, but I'll take another shot at it. I could care less what they write on our money, as long as they keep the value of a dollar up to a reasonable level. The inflation rate is far more of a concern to me than what is written on the money. Most money these days is just a piece of paper with no real value anyhow. But hey, this time I don't really disagree with you. I like you better without the wig.
Pcunix,
I love your writing and voted this up but I disagree. What we put on our money tells allot about ourselves and who we wish to be. Our founders were intriguing - Jefferson gave his emotional and monetary support to various churches. Showcasing that we believe in a God that supports all religions I feel is essential. In God we trust sends a message that there is a greater power, a power beyond all of us, a power that units all of us into USA.
@GMAGoldie - But WE do not. You do, but millions of us do not believe and millions more who do believe don't believe in anything that you could put any "trust" in. They think some god-thing created the Universe, but that's the end of it for them.
WE do not "trust" in god.
I believe the Founders chose separation of Church and State. What individuals did in private (give to preferred charities) is non sequitur to public laws and actions (design of currency). I say put "United States of America," "E Pluribus Unum," and the denomination, and leave it at that. Perhaps liven it up with pictures of historic buildings, landscapes, or animals. If you choose a person, there will be those who get offended that you didn't choose someone else for that particular denomination.
Pushing a particular belief on non-believers leads to tyranny. Would American Christians like to live in, say, Iran or Saudi Arabia? They would either need to practice their Christianity in secret, or not at all. If practiced, they would live under constant fear of exposure, and the punishments that would come of that. While not that extreme in the USA, certain non-Christian believers feel oppressed even here. Your god is not necessarily my God (note the discrepancy in spelling).
I say the government should get out of the business of telling religions what they can display or say, and back into the business of enforcing equality amongst all, no matter their belief or non-belief. We should go back to "my rights stop where your nose starts," and structure our freedoms accordingly.
To get back to currency, there's the cost of producing currency. Perhaps we should just issue plastic cards, and make currency a thing of the past altogether. That would save lots of production cost, trees, and landscapes (to mine the metal for coins).
Are all these radical ideas?
I like how people use the argument "our economy is falling, this is happening, that is happening and you're upset about what's written on money" as if the idea of taking in God We Trust off of money is petty. If it's so petty, then take it off and end the argument.
On the other hand, having "In God We Trust" on money is symbolic of the freedoms that keep getting taken away.
For those who think this is a petty argument and would rather focus on the financial collapse, how about not printing "In God We Trust" on coins and thus saving money on copper (and other metals)?
@melbel: How is it symbolic of freedom? "Liberty" is freedom. I don't see how this is.
I meant that it's symbolic the the fact that our freedoms are being taken away, not symbolic of freedom. I worded that last comment poorly. :S
I don't think we should remove it, only add "all others pay cash".
That might work, Rochelle :-)
I love blogs like this, they always give me a good chuckle. "I know that this would upset the crazies", "I moderate comments and yours will be instantly deleted", "We do that even though you wouldn't give us the same freedom", etc.
You could have saved significant space by simply stating that you want your way and no attempt should made to confound you with logic, reason or the like.
Pc, I agree that we should remove that offensive and disgusting motto from our money, but I also agree with the previous commenter somewhat. I recommend deleting all that talk in your hub about offending the "crazies" from your otherwise good hub.
So, those who would impose a theocracy are not crazy?
I'll tell you what gives me a good chuckle: people who are afraid to confront extremists because it would force them to face the truth about their own views.
I've deleted quite a few comments here that did not meet my standards of intelligent commentary.
You don't have to agree with me, but you do need to have intelligence. My hub, my rules :-)
Actually, in making my suggestion, I was thinking more in terms of usefulness. If you come right out of the gate swinging at enemies unseen, it distracts and detracts from the point you're trying to make, and people will be less likely to take you seriously. And that would be a shame, because you otherwise make a pretty good case.
Btw, comments at this hub have to be approved before they will appear. Believe it or not, I'm not here 24 hours a day to do that :-)
I got to thinking a little more about this hub. I can't honestly remember the last time I ever "read" my money when I spent some, other than the denomination on the bill. I have been in many foreign countries, used their currency, and have absolutely no idea what is printed on their money other than the denomination. I guess what I am saying is I am completely neutral on what is printed on money.
Now if I was forced to kneel on a rug, face the East and pray several times a day, I would be very upset.
That's likely true for many, OP. how would you feel if it said "Praise Allah"?
But what's wrong with it taking up a lot of space?...
"Most of us think the idea of an active God is rather unlikely, though we do like the moral code expressed in our religion"
But perhaps add to it, "but it's highly possible He will be active in the future."
Maybe that should only go on the quarter or silver dollar. Aw, heck! Just use it on paper money and use initials for the coins...
MouTtIoaAGiRU,TWDLtMCEiOR,bIHPHWBAitF
Even initials is a mouthful.
As a non-denominational Christian, I have to agree with you. The thought of a Rick Perry America is a bit much. I like my science, and happen to think it takes more than a few decades for galaxies to collide.
But PC, what would be really cool is if the Fundamentalists could realize that their interpretation of the Bible isn't the Bible. It's only an interpretation. And my own exegetical research shows that Genesis has a timeline compatible with those of science. Shoots all kinds of holes in the 6000-year "history of the universe."
Maybe you should realize that there is nothing to interpret? It's just a bunch of very old stories that eventually got written down. Myth and history and fiction all jumbled together. Interesting, but nothing more,
Thanks, PC. Maybe you should realize that there's more to it than a superficial read would reveal.
Like a good mystery, there are many clues to unraveling a much deeper story. I understand that you're not interested. And that's okay.
But since you don't like the idea of Fundamentalists running the country, I thought you might be interested in an antidote.
I guess not.
Friend, I know a lot about your silly book. There is no deeper story. Thanks for visiting. Bye now.
Heres an idea for all u "Crazies" crying over a motto on americas money use a credit or debit card and dont use money if the motto upsets you so much.
I mean seriously, how often do you really look at your money before you spend it anyway.
This whole thing started with a group of atheist, people with no relegion at all, i mean if you dont have a relegion and beleive in nothing why does it upset you?
You didn't bother to read any of this, did you?
Healthy Pursuits Level 5 Commenter 5 months ago
I feel the same way - get the sentiments of one religious group off the legal tender that's meant for use by a whole nation.
As far as this not being an A-list hub idea during a time of crisis, we will always have crises to deal with, but we still need to continue to explore what the concept of a democracy means and what the freedoms within it mean for all of us, not just certain groups.