This story headline was recently posted on Facebook. The story is about a judge who recently struck down a case regarding the religious wording on US currency. Respondents to the Facebook posting unanimously agreed to the question in the headline, "Do you agree?" (that these words should be on our money).
This is a dissenting opinion:
The original coinage minted by the United States never carried a
religious motto. Interestingly, "MIND YOUR BUSINESS" (from Benjamin
Franklin) appeared as the first motto. The first American coinage was
totally secular; as clean from a mention of God as the Constitution.
The religious community in America grew. Several Protestant denominations organized the National Reform Association that formalized their desire to transform America into a Christian state. Their aim was to amend the Constitution and "declare the nation's allegiance to Jesus Christ" by making "Christian laws" the "legal basis" for laws of the land.
The Association failed in its attempt to amend the Constitution, but continued its efforts:
Today the religious motto is found on all USA paper money and coinage, none of which appeared on our Founding Fathers' currency. The irony cannot be lost here that Christians suggest love of money as the "root of all evil" (1 Tim. 6:10).
More to the point, the Founding Fathers, through the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, created a secular federal government that would treat religion neutrally and impartially. God, religion, and sectarianism, while adopted by the majority of citizens of the United States, would be kept out of government by law. The reason was simple and well understood by every educated and informed individual: religions and sectarianism appealed to a person's passions and emotions, not to one's intellect and logical faculties, and so were inimical to, and corruptible of, a secular government based on reason and the rule of law.
Very simply, the Founding Fathers thought that freedom of conscience and expression should be allowed and protected by law, not that the law include a preferential belief in a specific religion, theology, philosophy, or ideology.
Every constitutional scholar will tell you that "In God We Trust " and "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional, and each will also tell you that it won't be removed. They are America's little hypocrisy...
The religious community in America grew. Several Protestant denominations organized the National Reform Association that formalized their desire to transform America into a Christian state. Their aim was to amend the Constitution and "declare the nation's allegiance to Jesus Christ" by making "Christian laws" the "legal basis" for laws of the land.
The Association failed in its attempt to amend the Constitution, but continued its efforts:
- The Act of 1865 gave the authority to place "IN GOD WE TRUST" on coins.
- In 1908 Congress ignored the concept of state/church separation and approved a bill to make the use of the motto "IN GOD WE TRUST" a requirement of law.
- In 1956, during the Christian, anti-Communist fervor of McCarthyism, Congress passed a bill establishing "IN GOD WE TRUST" as a national motto.
Today the religious motto is found on all USA paper money and coinage, none of which appeared on our Founding Fathers' currency. The irony cannot be lost here that Christians suggest love of money as the "root of all evil" (1 Tim. 6:10).
More to the point, the Founding Fathers, through the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, created a secular federal government that would treat religion neutrally and impartially. God, religion, and sectarianism, while adopted by the majority of citizens of the United States, would be kept out of government by law. The reason was simple and well understood by every educated and informed individual: religions and sectarianism appealed to a person's passions and emotions, not to one's intellect and logical faculties, and so were inimical to, and corruptible of, a secular government based on reason and the rule of law.
Very simply, the Founding Fathers thought that freedom of conscience and expression should be allowed and protected by law, not that the law include a preferential belief in a specific religion, theology, philosophy, or ideology.
Every constitutional scholar will tell you that "In God We Trust " and "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional, and each will also tell you that it won't be removed. They are America's little hypocrisy...
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