"Victory: In god we still trust"

PickelledEggs · December 29, 2013, 09:41:27 PM

A facebook acquaintance of mine posted this. How is mandatory trust in god a part of the first amendment?
I wonder how many of these facebook bible thumpers actually know what the first amendment actually is?

//http://aclj.org/american-heritage/victory-in-god-we-still-trust?sf20969275=1

aileron · December 29, 2013, 10:39:24 PM

This suit was a stupid waste of time and its inevitable failure only served to reinforce the "militant atheist" stereotype. The facts of the case have already been adjudicated many times all the way up to the SCOTUS, and no relevant precedent has changed. The Lemon test applies, and the SCOTUS has already ruled repeatedly that the motto passes the Lemon test. Until something materially changes in SCOTUS precedent, this is a pointless case.

frosty · December 30, 2013, 12:02:40 AM

Isn't "In God We Trust" more of a statement with Deist origins than anything? I remember reading various blogs and websites back in the day that claimed that the statement had origins rooted in science, Masonism and Deism.

Hydra009 · December 30, 2013, 12:30:44 AM

Quote from: "frosty"Isn't "In God We Trust" more of a statement with Deist origins than anything? I remember reading various blogs and websites back in the day that claimed that the statement had origins rooted in science, Masonism and Deism.

Star-Spangled Banner, afaik. I suppose could be interpreted as "ceremonial deism", but it's pretty clear what sort of god "the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation" (who apparently also craves praise) is referring to, and it's definitely not the sort of god that deists believe in.

The Skeletal Atheist · December 30, 2013, 12:49:24 AM

The phrase has been on coins since the 1800s and it showed up on paper money in the 1950s as a "fuck you" to the communists. Honestly I think there are better battles to be fought. These guys are trying to make women nothing more than fucktoys who make sandwiches, shove gays back in the closet, and push pseudoscience in the classroom among other things and we're worrying about a phrase on our currency? It's a battle for another time, we have more important things to deal with right now.

PickelledEggs · December 30, 2013, 01:52:55 AM

I think both groups are stupid in this instance. It was a stupid fight to pick on the atheists part and it's stupid of theists to think that it should be on money and use the 1st amendment to back up their argument.

mykcob4 · December 30, 2013, 11:08:24 AM

Quote from: "PickelledEggs"A facebook acquaintance of mine posted this. How is mandatory trust in god a part of the first amendment?
I wonder how many of these facebook bible thumpers actually know what the first amendment actually is?

//http://aclj.org/american-heritage/victory-in-god-we-still-trust?sf20969275=1

I am so sick of these religious assholes imposing this false idea that this nation was founded on god and christianity. If anything it was founded dispite god and certainly founded against the idea of divinity. "In god we trust" came way after the founding in this nation. It was enacted after the civil war, when as result of that war many uneducated and ignorant Americans became fanatic evangelicals. The Civil War was odd in the fact that both sides felt that a god gave them divine right and would help them win the war. The slaves thought that god would deliver them to freedom and from oppression. All of them were completely wrong. The slaves were given freedom by an act of Congress brought by an extrodinary president that did things not for political reasons but because they were correct...YES politically correct. The Union defeated the rebels because they had logistical advantage and for no other reason.
Now we have an incorrect legacy of religiousity that has illegally and unconstitutionally impregnated itself in the fabric of government. It clearly violates the Establisment Clause of the Constitution and is a slap in the face on the tenets of this nation.

mykcob4 · December 30, 2013, 11:09:15 AM

Quote from: "frosty"Isn't "In God We Trust" more of a statement with Deist origins than anything? I remember reading various blogs and websites back in the day that claimed that the statement had origins rooted in science, Masonism and Deism.

No it was a kneejerk reaction to the Civil War.

Mister Agenda · December 30, 2013, 11:15:23 AM

Eventually we will have enough Congressmen to change it the old-fashioned way. I hope when that day comes we just change it back to E Pluribus Unum and resist the urge to make it into a 'fuck you' opportunity.

Insult to Rocks · December 30, 2013, 11:40:44 AM

E pluribus Unum is a better motto anyway. But ya, we have far to many problems right now to be wasting all our energy on something so minor and insignificant. That doesn't excuse these idiots who defended the precedent though. The U.S is not and never will be a Christian nation. Read the Treaty of Tripoli.

Hydra009 · December 30, 2013, 01:28:11 PM

Quote from: "Mister Agenda"Eventually we will have enough Congressmen to change it the old-fashioned way. I hope when that day comes we just change it back to E Pluribus Unum and resist the urge to make it into a 'fuck you' opportunity.

Heh. Imagine how "There is no God" as the national anthem would go over. Now look at the people saying "In God We Trust" is just fine because it's traditional.

mykcob4 · December 30, 2013, 03:41:43 PM

Quote from: "Hydra009"
Quote from: "Mister Agenda"Eventually we will have enough Congressmen to change it the old-fashioned way. I hope when that day comes we just change it back to E Pluribus Unum and resist the urge to make it into a 'fuck you' opportunity.
Heh. Imagine how "There is no God" as the national anthem would go over. Now look at the people saying "In God We Trust" is just fine because it's traditional.

Slavery was a tradition. The lord of the manner having your bride first was a tradition. Tradition isn't an excuse for anything. I'm in the south and I have to fight those words, "it's tradition," all the time.

Shol'va · December 30, 2013, 06:35:36 PM

If or when atheists become the vast majority, I want to print currency that says "When you die, nothing happens" as payback to all the asshole religious out there.

Just kidding.

mykcob4 · December 30, 2013, 09:16:34 PM

I don't think that atheist will ever come close to the majority, or even a large minority, BUT the Constitution isn't based on majority rule.
Rule of law and individual rights trumps majority rule.

PickelledEggs · December 30, 2013, 09:33:21 PM

Quote from: "mykcob4"I don't think that atheist will ever come close to the majority, or even a large minority, BUT the Constitution isn't based on majority rule.
Rule of law and individual rights trumps majority rule.

I wouldn't say never. It's always possible that nonbelievers can become the majority, although it is highly unlikely here in the U.S. and if it does happen, it won't be for a very long time.

News:

"Victory: In god we still trust"