Monday, December 27, 2004

In God We Trust

I would like to clear up some misconceptions about the word "God" in the pledge of allegiance and on our money and in relation to our country as a whole. I hear over and over by the religious right that the founding fathers wanted this to be a Christian nation and that is why it was on the money and in the pledge. The truth is is that it was not in either at the founding of our country, so if you are a religious person who is trying to claim the United States is a Christian nation because of it, please stop. The United States is a Republic which has a Christian majority, but that does not make it a Christian nation. The founding fathers were smart enough to make no mention of God in the constitution other than to ensure the government stayed away from it.

The Pledge of Allegiance:

The original pledge did not contain the words "under God." These words were added by president Eisenhower in 1954 in order to make an ideological difference between the communist and ourselves. Eisenhower used the phrase for political purposes, not to be pious.

"In God We Trust" on our money:

This was not added to our coins until 1864 (civil war). The motto was not used on paper money until 1957. (Link)

I am not using this to attack anyone's religious beliefs, but please stop using the facts wrongly.

4 comments:

Smoke Eater said...

For the record, I never said that the U.S. is a "Christian Republic", I simply stated that America was founded BASED ON Christian principles.

Dingo said...

Don't worry smokey, I am not claiming "you" did. This post is more than just about you. This is about many blogs I have seen over time.

sofyst said...

Hey Dingo, what about 'endowed by our creator', does that not reek of a higher being, a God? I would say so, but HEY, I do of course have some certain presupoositional biases in my thinking don't I?

(Thought I'd throw in alittle to disturb the waters some!!)

By the way! How are things, haven't spoken with you in while, hows the kids?

awaiting the hope,
adam

Bill said...

Sorry folks, but "endowed by their creator" is in the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution.