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"In God We Trust" - Violation of the 1st Amendment?

I've heard and read about many atheists complaining about the motto used on US money, saying that it violates the first amendment of the US constitution, separation of church and state.

I also know of some atheists who don't really care. They say there's nothing we can do about it, and even if we could, "why bother? It's only money."

It's not only money though.
I recently went to a water park where "In God We Trust" was printed on the entrance sign. Why is this? Was it meant to be a believers-only water park? If so, they should have warned me before I drove the hour-and-a-half.

I want to know what your opinions are on the matter. Should we continue protesting, marking out the motto on our money? Or just leave it be because it doesn't really matter?

I'm curious.

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Permalink Reply by Undo on July 31, 2008 at 11:56am

The patriotic games really annoy me. Flags, buttons, ribbons, redneck songs, etc. What a bunch of sheep. Baaaaabaaaa.

I like the money-greed-sin angle.

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Permalink Reply by Bob of QF on August 9, 2008 at 8:10pm

When giving the pledge, I just skip over that little, "under god" phrase.

No one has complained so far-- but I'm ready if they do. I will simply state that I prefer the historical, original pledge, thank you very much.

If I'm being a bit mischievous, I might add, "you know, the one that god intended originally." If they are fundie, I will politely remind them that the bible strictly prohibits using god to swear by or in any other invocation. It's blasphemy. 'What?', I'll ask. 'You want me to commit blasphemy?'

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Permalink Reply by Jeffrey on July 15, 2008 at 1:11pm

I don't trust anyone with my money, least of all god.

I also have a bug up my ass about God Bless America. I really hate it when people say bless you when I sneeze.

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Permalink Reply by Sneakerface on July 21, 2009 at 5:52pm

What I hate is when I sneeze, and someone (often not even anywhere that close) yells "god bless you !" and then when I ignore them, they get mad because I don't THANK them for their blessing. This has happened to me on several occasions.

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Permalink Reply by Jon G. on July 17, 2008 at 9:39pm

Conservative christians would be surprised at the attitude toward Separation of Church and State by the founders. They don't seem to realize that "Under God" wasn't added to the Pledge until the 1950s; that putting "In God We Trust" on money was also 20th century. Around 1800, some ministers started a movement to require the Post Office to close on Sunday to honor the Sabbath. Congress responded by requiring every Post Office to be open on Sunday! Congressmen argued that closing on Sunday would be unconstitutional! George Washington negotiated and John Adams signed a treaty with a moslem country asserting that the US was NOT in any sense a Christian nation. I don't have time for a lengthy comment, but see the Americans United for Separation of Church and State Website. I think it's www.au.org.

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Permalink Reply by Carl Wheeler on July 20, 2008 at 1:59am

"In God We Trust" does not violate the first amendment. The money is owned, essentially, by a private organization-- the Federal Reserve. Also, there is no call for separation of church and state within the constitution itself.

I'm of the opinion that it does not belong on our money just as the use of the word god does not belong in the U.S. pledge, which was added in 1954 during the era of McCarthyism to help promote anti-Communism by Eisenhower.

But, I find there are better things to waste my time with than to fight for these to be taken off/taken out. That's not to say that others shouldn't try, but this country appears to be falling faster and faster into a theocracy. Hell, we're already headed by a religious nut that says he speaks to god, and does what god wills.

In my opinion, this country is already fucked.

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Permalink Reply by Darren on July 20, 2008 at 8:02am

On the contrary, the establishment and free exercise clauses in the 1st Amendment do indeed demand a separation of church and state, as Jefferson explained in his famous letter. Also, the Fed is not private--it's an independent (supposedly) part of the government.

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Permalink Reply by Pirate Bard on July 20, 2008 at 11:42am

For those interested in getting the word "God" off of our money and out of our pledge, you might be interested to check out this website/petition that was brought to my attention earlier this morning.

http://www.petitiononline.com/EPU/petition.html

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Permalink Reply by BuildingCastles on July 22, 2008 at 5:20am

No offense, but these e-petitions tend to be ineffective. To make politicians take notice, phone calls, emails, and actual snail mail should be sent.

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Permalink Reply by BuildingCastles on July 22, 2008 at 5:14am

Something my gf and I did last winter:

http://pics.livejournal.com/project_quarter/pic/00001pqx

I don't use cash that often, but when I do, I try to remember to take a black marker and put a big line through "In God We Trust."

The placement of "In God We Trust" spits in the eyes of the forefathers, who wanted to keep religion separate from the government. No sane person can argue that this does not include keeping statements about the American people and religious preferences off of our money. Either the "we" is excluding all atheists, agnostics, and people who do not believe in the christian god, or it is making an untrue statement about us. Some people say this phrase can include other gods besides the Christian god, bu no one who knows the history of why this is on our money can say that this isn't a statement about the Christian god. A Christian was the one that suggested it to another Christian, and that's history. Regardless of it's specifity, it isn't accurate for non-theists.

It's such a big deal to me, because god on money and god in our pledge are part of the argument christians use for saying that this is a Christian nation. Everyone goes around saying it's not a big deal, but when a couple of evil Atheists start scratching it off of money, they yell "NO ONE CARES" extra loud, over and over again, showing that they indeed care very much. Reversing this ruling, along with the pledge, would send a statement that americans actually DO believe in freedom of religion and the separation of church and state. Yes, there are bigger fish to fry; there are hundreds upon hundreds of different examples of church & state violations, but these are symbolic, if nothing else. And don't get me started on the damn pledge.

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Permalink Reply by damian on July 22, 2008 at 7:01am

I started marking out god on money. I feel like i'm contributing somehow. There's also a chance that this small act will make fencesitters get off the fence. I think i'll go mark up some bills right now.

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Permalink Reply by God on July 24, 2008 at 12:20am

Well, thankfully, I live in Canada, and I am pretty certain that phrase is lacking on our bills, wait let me look...yup, nowhere. So thankfully, I do no have to worry about such things.