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It’s been about 50 years since the U.S. began printing ‘In God We Trust’ onto the currency. This occurred during the Eisenhower administration to further accentuate the difference between America and the then-Soviet Union. That form of communism suppressed religion a great deal. We wanted any advantage out there.
This Cold War relic has held on though, despite challenges that that this phrase violates separation of church and state. As a Christian, I admit I do not empathize well with those who oppose this. I am somewhat bemused by notions that this moves the U.S. toward being a theocracy. More abrasive defenders of this have argued the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. While that’s a good slogan, I’m not sure how much that helps foster reconcilation.
(Strangely enough, Protestants are commonly thought of as pushing for a theocracy, though world history shows that either Jews (Israel) or Roman Catholics have been in the habit of establishing theocracies, not Protestants. But no matter.)
Should we continue to carry this message on our currency? Does it even serve a purpose? An article here examines the history of this controversial phrase. Enjoy!
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I don’t have a person problem with seeing “In God We Trust” everywhere, but I understand why others do. The argument of why it should not be there makes more sense to me than the argument of why it should, though I’m not pushing for either. Doesn’t matter to me.
The “heritage” argument, however, seems completely invalid to me. There are loads of bad things that are a strong part of our “heritage,” too, but we don’t go touting those. The heritage argument relies a little too much on revisionist history for me.
I sort of always just say (about America) that I will fight for something I see as a just social cause, but if the country leans too far in a way I don’t want to go on too many things, then I’ll just leave. I’ve yet to face that situation, but that’s sort of my feeling when people get crazy upset over everything that is wrong with America. If it is that bad, maybe you should go. I mean, for your own health, not because I don’t like you.
Hahaha, I agree with Kyle. As a Christian, I often cringe when hearing the Christian conservative right talk about how America was founded by Christians as a Christian nation. The reality is that most were Deists, and did not have a Christian view of God at all.
So really, it just illustrates how little they know their country’s history.
The last thing I would advocate for is for the U.S. to become a Christian theocracy. I recently heard a pastor say that we need to protect the right to practice all religions because it guarantees our right to be Christian. A healthy separation of church and state can only be good, so if people legitimately have a problem with “In God We Trust,” then maybe it should be taken off (assuming it is “legitmate” and not just anti-religion).
For the record, I in no way think that “In God We Trust” being on our currency will lead to us being a theocracy.
I know that’s not what you were saying, Brad, I’m just saying. In general.
Hehe, I hear ya. It’s an important statement to make considering that many people think we are there already, and others don’t think we are but regularly pray for it.
*shrugs*
Hehe, any alternative suggestions? How about “In a massive defense budget we trust”?
LOL, I’m going to stop now… probably not a good idea for me to start introducing politics, but I can’t think of anything that doesn’t have a political connotation right now.
Provocative topic. Haven’t commented for a while, but I’ve been enjoying the posts.
It’s interesting that “…one nation under God…” was also added to the Pledge of Allegiance during the Cold War. Personally, I like the references to God. (Even if they are referring to a very generic “God.”)
Brad, that reminds me of a funny web ad I saw during the 2004 presidential elections.
It had a picture of Kerry and a pic of Bush. Under Kerry read the words “Smarter children” and under Bush read the words “Smarter bombs.”