[url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/13/in-god-we-trust-lawsuit_n_2867227.html]Article[/url]
[quote]The Freedom From Religion Foundation mounted a lawsuit against the U.S. Treasury Department and other government officials this week, claiming that they are discriminating against nonbelievers by including the phrase "In God We Trust" on the nation's currency.
"Our government is prohibited from endorsing one religion over another but also prohibited from endorsing religion over nonreligion. The placement of a monotheistic ideal on our nation's currency violates this stricture and is therefore unconstitutional," FFRF Co-President Dan Barker said in a statement.
Along with 19 other plaintiffs, the FFRF argues in the lawsuit that they "are forced to proselytize -- by an Act of Congress -- for a deity they don't believe in whenever they handle money."[/quote]
I fully agree with this lawsuit. I think that it's pretty clear that printing "In God We Trust" on money violates the idea of separation of church and state. A secular entity should not be spreading the idea of trust in a deity (any deity), especially not through something that everyone has to use.
This idea is not anti-religious. It is the same principle as to why I don't learn about human anatomy in my Shakespeare class. It's not that there's anything wrong with learning about anatomy, that class just isn't the time or place for it. Something printed by the government is not the place to declare that "we" (whoever that refers to) "trust in" a deity, when that is not true in many cases.
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This is retarded i so many ways.
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Ridiculous.
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And the jimmies were softly rustled just as a cool summer nights breeze flows through an open window and softly rustles the hanging curtains.
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That is -blam!-ing retarded.
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Edited by CME1124: 7/26/2013 6:08:33 AMSee, people will laugh at how trivial this seems (and I don't blame them), but it IS -blam!-ing ridiculous that it's written on the money to begin with. For a country that is so proud of its "religious freedom", I don't know how some dumbass was allowed to make the decision to print a motto like that on the national currency to begin with. This is just going to cause bad publicity for atheists and this lawsuit will go absolutely nowhere, but it is legitimate complaint. This is basically the same issue as the one regarding the Pledge of Allegiance. They both seem like such minor things, but what they represent is a complete contradiction to the whole supposed secularism of the US.
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I think we should just drop currency entirely and trade/barter everything.
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Good, anything to separate us from the horrid 50's.
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Obviously I support this.
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i'm totally fine with this. the closer we can get to out constitutional separation of church and state the better. in my opinion anyway
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I wondered when they were going to realize this.
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It should never have been put on the money to begin with. So we're just reversing it.
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Why is it that only now people are starting to complain about this shit?
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So, what you're telling me is that we're trying to get the government to do away with meaningless rhetoric? Society would collapse!
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What's the point? And to be frank, it's a waste of time.
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Good, maybe poor people will finally stop harassing me about it.
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How about we attack the completely unconstitutional measures caused by the PATRIOT Act before we fuss over some words on paper?
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The thought of people sitting in a chair, staring at a dollar bill, and being pissed of at it makes me laugh.
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It'll never accomplish anything since the Supreme Court are a bunch of old people who are religious.
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I think this lawsuit is a waste of time. I doubt they will change anything. And, i mean c'mon, it's just 4 words that almost no one pays attention to.
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I'm getting sick of people saying 'We have bigger problems' or 'We should focus on blah blah blah', the US government is very capable of doing multiple things at once.
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While the lawsuit is just, Congress is seemingly extremely partisan toward religion (THEIR religion to be specific) they've forgotten that they're meant to serve the people, not themselves. (Corruption)
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Wait, does mean we have to remove the CIA's motto, "In God We Trust, All Others We Polygraph" because that one's kinda cool.
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This is one of those instances where I really don't care. This really doesn't hurt me at all.
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Ya, lets get our jimmies rustled by words.
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Edited by Swim Good: 3/15/2013 4:46:52 PMThe US motto "In God We Trust" has been challenged three times in the past and each time it's been found to be constitutional and not to violate the Establishment Clause. I don't see why this one would be any different or how anyone could think it would be.
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It was tacked on during Truman's time while the Red Scare was in effect. There was no threat of Communism back then in America, just paranoia. There's no threat of Communism today in America.