Come on, believers -- do you really think God cares about whether our currency acknowledges his existence or not? I seem to recall a story about someone else handling a piece of currency and saying "Give unto Caesar what is Caesar's." So of course not. That phrase isn't on our currency to please God, so it must be there to please believers. And that makes it an Establishment of Religion.It's a good bet that you're Christian if you're still not convinced. So think about how you'd feel if if our money said "In Kali We Trust" or "In Allah We Trust" instead. After all, the money doesn't specify which God is the repository of our national trust... but then you'd have to be pretty dim to think that any god but Jehovah was intended to be thus honored.
The Mint is likely to correct its "mistake" and stamp coins bearing the technical violation of the First Amendment in the future and these coins will have value for collectors and not be circulated. If they were, I bet they'd spend just as well as other kinds of money.
Now if you ask me, the real problem with these new coins is that they have a really scary picture of good ol' George:
Recall, if you will, the Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror in which zombies tried to eat the brains of the residents of Springfield, and Homer defended his family from the likes of undead Albert Einstein with a shotgun. That picture looks a lot like zombie George Washington.
Would you prefer King over Creator?
ReplyDeleteWe hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their, Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Dude, you should really read the Constitution sometime: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
ReplyDeleteestablishment of religion = no state religion ala "Church of England"
ReplyDeleteor prohibiting the free exercise thereof; (at least you added the second part, most seculars don't)
Freedom OF religion was the intent, not freedom FROM religion.
So are you saying I do not have a Constitutional right to be an atheist? That the government can require me to pick a religion, it just can't tell me which one? I rather doubt that was the intent. James Madison, the author of the First Amendment, was personally a devout Christian, but that did not stop him from opining "During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."
ReplyDeleteYou can be anything you like. "It's America". Did you know Madison attended services in the Capital!
ReplyDeleteThe reason America is the way it is, is because we were founded on Religious principles. You can't deny that.
— that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom —
-A.L.