Should the motto "In God We Trust" be removed from U.S. currency?

PHP, how can you not see this?

You are free to say, "In God We Trust." This is free speech.

You are not free to force me to say it.

The Constitution establishes that the state is not free to promote the view by establishing a law on same, either.

 

I don't see how this is forcing you to do anything or impacting your day to day lives. This is what is intended by the seperation of church and state that you continue to bring up. In reality, this is just something that is written on a piece of paper and stamped onto a little circle. And somehow it is now turning your world upside down and forcing you to do things you don't want to do?

In what way is this impacting your life?

 

Forcing people who do not 'trust in god' to use money stamped with 'in god we trust'

I can very well see how that would impact someone who does not believe in god.

What if the coin stated 'in satan we slaughter' would that be aok to you?

BTW since when does it something 'impacts your life' have anything to do with if it's against the constitution or not?

 

I think you are lying phpgator as a way of getting out of answering honestly. I think if you were honest, At least with yourself, You would be outraged if you were forced to finance the printing of atheist phrases on public property.

 

PHP, sincerely: are you seeing the distinctions being drawn here? That no matter what personal feelings are at play, the question is over whether this is, or isn't, constitutional?

The principle was established specifically to ensure you weren't intruded upon in your right to the private practice of your faith. For if it's Christian theology today, it's someone else's tomorrow, and if it's the U.S. government promoting it, this is utterly against one of the key tenets of what our country was founded on.

Again, if the mint said, "Jesus is dead. Long live Beelzebub." Would you be cool with that?

Edited to add: posted before seeing Grim's and Stox's replies. In a word, "yep."

 

You could write that on a piece of paper or on my computer screen as you just did. No, that did not impact my life at all. I know you were hoping otherwise though.

 

I'm not trying to be a smartallic (sp?) at all with this. I fully support the concept that people should have the ability to choose their own faith. Heck, thats biblical. What I don't see is that this somehow intrudes on your ability to do so. That is the difference.

 

The issue is public provenance for private religious sentiments, not non-governmental demonstrations of sexual orientation.

Let me know how you feel when the U.S. Government mints coins with "homosexuality is the only way to go," by the way.

Look - I don't have an issue with your practice of your Christianity. In fact, I draw many things from the historical Christ's message. I do have an issue with the government's hand in it. It's quite basic.

 

PHP, I'd return you to my earlier post, and Grim's comment, which applies: it isn't a personal perception of whether this bugs the crap out of me or not that matters. Whether this breaks the letter and spirit of the Constitution should matter.

 

I agree, the constitution should matter. However, I don't think that this violates what is stated in the constitution. As you made note, the spirit of the constitution is for the government to stray away from dictating what people should and should not believe in terms of religion. As I have made note several times, having this written on a piece of paper is not dictating what your faith must be or cannot be. I haven't heard anyone give a good explanation of how this impacts their day to day lives, which is where the spirit of the constitution lies on this issue.

 

PHP, I feel like we are going in circles. It isn't about "effect." It's extremely clear:

The Coinage Act of 1864, and what followed, was a law to put "In God We Trust" on every coin. It has actually been removed, then replaced by religious interest group pressure, over the course of our history.

The only way your logic follows is if you do not believe a law requiring every coin of the realm to say "In God We Trust" is not a law respecting an establishment of religion.

Is this your contention?

 

You are leaving out part that shows what that is referred to:

Again, I ask, does this limit your ability to believe the way you wish to believe? This is what was intended by Jefferson when he wrote it.

 

Didn't want to change the topic but......The big three religions are about the same God, when it is closely examined.

 

You know the Constitution's first words are..."In God We Trust"

Edit: Scratch that, "We the People"

 

PHP, because it isn't relevant to this discussion, and the operative word is "OR." This discussion centers on a law that is respecting religion, not a law prohibiting the free exercise of religion. To deal with your point nevertheless, "OR," in other words, NEITHER:

OR

So:

Congress shall make no law establishing a point of view on religion. I.e., Congress shall not direct the mint to include "In God We Trust" on state, public monies.

AND

Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion. If a law were to be written saying religion is a thing of the past, and is heretofore banned in our land, I'd be the first to jump in arms equal to the issue of this thread.

Sincerely, and not in any way intended to belittle your views - but do you understand the distinctions here?

 

Really? I guess I've read the Cliff notes all my life, since I didn't know this. In fact, the notes I have, the word "God" is nowhere to be found in the entire Constitution.

My Cliff Notes say this in the beginning of the Constitution:

Constitution for the United States of America

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

 

Really? I always thought the preamble was We the People of the United States,

Glad to see I have been corrected.

 

Where did I state 'would it effect your life?'

I believe I asked it if would be ok with you, I also asked since when does it matter if something effects your life or not when it comes to the constitution.

If you're going to debate, at least please try to remain honest and not change the intent of posts.

BTW reading something on a screen is far different from being forced to use money with such terms on a daily basis.

 

Thanks grim and northpointaiki, I was trying to say that The Founding Fathers were about finding a sovereign country under God.

 

Umm no they were not

BTW the being 'corrected' was SARCASM