In God We Trust

julian4239 · Mayor Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 211

You'll find on the back of our coins "In God We Trust."

Should we eliminate it or not, based on Separation of Church and State?

MHJ · Mayor's Aide Joined: 12 Jun 2006 Posts: 118

Nah. It is not designed to draw anyone into a specific religion. It simply acknowledges a God everyone has heard of

Mrs Wolfie · Mayor's Aide Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 117

Absolutely not. This country was built on belief and faith in God. That faith is why we are the great country we are. Too bad more can't recall that.

geline · Mayor's Aide Joined: 14 Jun 2006 Posts: 51

Other people would think differently of God. I have known countries who don't believe in God but never wondered why everything here on earth that man has never made have existed until this time. I wish they would start thinking and asking themselves.

Mrs Wolfie · Mayor's Aide Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 117

You always have to remember- God gave us free will. We either accept or we don't- everyone has to make that choice sometime..

deelip · Congressional Page Joined: 28 Jul 2006 Posts: 11

I thinks it should be keep there.
Cause it do not indicates any specific relegion.
Every religion have a god so it points that.

alexis · Mayor's Aide Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 57

I think involving God and religions in everyday life is something that should not be imposed, no matter what God or religion we are talking about, it's a matter that each individual should decide.

It's just a phrase in a bill but I think it shouldn't be there, in fact I think there's some irony; most religions talk about being humble and then you find a religion related phrase in money.

julian4239 · Mayor Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 211

Alexis, I agree that imposing a religion shouldn't be the purpose. However, I believe the word "In God We Trust" has a historical precedence in the United States. The founding fathers of this country believed the words and many Americans after believed in the saying. It symbolizes a country built on faith and destiny, even to some in secular terms.

Mrs Wolfie · Mayor's Aide Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 117

You are correct, Julian. No matter what people today want to say or think, the reality is America was built on the foundation of Christianity. As a Christian, I firmly believe it is that foundation which has made this country the great super power that it is. The Liberal movement has already done so much damage to our founding fathers mindset, I doubt it is long before they go after the dollar bill.

Fascist · Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 11:58 am Post subject:

I don't know if we should remove it now. In an ideal world, I would say yes, but I doubt anyone will do that anyway. It's already there and it's been there for 50 or so years, so it will be, even if we could, difficult to pry the saying off regardless of the Church and State separation.

Ideally, I don't think it should have been put on there in the first place; originally, it was placed there to bolster 'morale' against the Communists during the Cold War. Rather silly, I think.

I also disagree with someone above who said that it should be there because the United States was founding on faith and religion; that's not exactly true. The United States government itself was founded on secular Enlightenment principles and some deistic concepts. The vast majority of our system of governance is secular.

The Declaration of Independence is not a founding document of the government of the United States, so even though it does use the "creator" terminology, they are referring to Deism--besides that, the US didn't exist at that time untill 1786-7 when the United States adopted the Constitution. The Constitution makes no mention of God or the Creator. It's a largely secular document.

There are also myriad quotes from Founding Fathers who authored the Constitution who specifically state the intention of the goverment to be secular and that the United States itself was founded not on Christian or religious principles, but on secular values of the Enlightenment--the ideas of Diderot, Voltair, and Smith etc.

Respectfully I have to say that to claim the United States was founded on Christian values is completely incorrect. In some cases, there might be some principles that overlap, but that's true of many non-Christian systems. Many COLONIAL goverments, however, were founded on religious grounds, but the colonial Americans didn't establish the same system when they founded the USA.

What madet his country great wasn't Christianity, but the efforts of the Merchant, the Labourer, the Peace activist, the legislator, and the businessman. Capitalism and activism made the United States what it was.

darren63 · Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 5:16 pm Post subject:

Alla Prima · Congressional Page Joined: 08 Jun 2008 Posts: 6

delete

Alla Prima · Congressional Page Joined: 08 Jun 2008 Posts: 6