In God We Trust
It came up else where, and didn't feel it right to place this as response there. The video to which I am responding to can be found Here
This is only a small, incomplete response, since the whole thing would be a book if I were to argue every point I found wrong in this video (oh and the anti education glib at the end made me fume for a few 3 minutes, so I am not gonna even touch it here).
The motto of "In God we Trust", is a fairly recent thing in the US. "In God We Trust", is the official motto of the United States and the U.S. state of Florida; but didn't become so till after the passage of an Act of Congress in 1956. The motto E Pluribus Unum ("from many, one") was approved for use on the Great Seal of the United States in 1782, and was the only type of motto, till that act of congress in the 50's .
Despite it not being a Federal motto till the 1950's, it was first used on a single coin in the year 1864, when Congress passed the Coinage Act (1864). This legislation changed the composition of the one-cent coin and authorized the minting of the two-cent coin. It wasn't until 1873 that the motto was placed on all coin types, for "In God We Trust" first appeared only on the 1864 two-cent coin.
I argue that the idea of "In God we Trust", is not a founding value of America, nor is it a current one. A quick bunny chase here: Many of those whom I see arguing for this, also argue for a Golden age back in 1950's; back when America was pure, simple, blah blah blah...They forget the whole section of the country that couldn't vote without great opposition or even sit in places reserved for whites only; or how about lynching. Yeah, Golden age my fat ass. I'll take this year over any year in the 50's hands down, thank you very much. Enough with that chasing bunnies, back to topic.
"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church"...
"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit"...
"Each of these churches shows certain books, which they call revelation, or the word of God. The Jews say that their word of God was given by God to Moses, face to face; the Christians say that their word of God came by divine inspiration; and the Turks say that their word of God, the Koran, was brought by an angel from heaven. Each of these churches accuses the others of unbelief; and, for my own part, I disbelieve them all"
~(Age of Reason)Thomas Paine
For those who have bothered to read the Jefferson Bible, they find a Jesus without superhuman powers, no miracles, no God-hood; but a man and reformer. Jefferson wanted to get rid of the mythology of Jesus, but keep the teachings he found helpful (just as I think he would have done with the Buddha, had he had more contact with Sidhartha's teachings, or any other great teacher.)
"Rogueries, absurdities and untruths were perpetrated upon the teachings of Jesus by a large band of dupes and importers led by Paul, the first great corrupter of the teaching of Jesus."
"The clergy converted the simple teachings of Jesus into an engine for enslaving mankind and adulterated by artificial constructions into a contrivance to filch wealth and power to themselves...these clergy, in fact, constitute the real Anti-Christ."
"I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature."
~Thomas Jefferson
"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Musselmen; and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."
John Adams in the Treaty of Tripoli
The list goes on: Adams, Franklin, Madison, and some even think G. Washington was not the most religous of men.
"Gouverneur Morris had often told me that General Washington believed no more of that system (Christianity) than did he himself."-Thomas Jefferson, in his private journal, Feb. 1800.
"George Washington's practice of Christianity was limited and superficial because he was not himself a Christian... He repeatedly declined the church's sacraments. Never did he take communion, and when his wife, Martha, did, he waited for her outside the sanctuary... Even on his deathbed, Washington asked for no ritual, uttered no prayer to Christ, and expressed no wish to be attended by His representative."~Historian Barry Schwartz
Most of those who were the framers of this country and the constitution upon which our "American Values" are based, made it clear that those values did not come from God, but from men (both atheists and deists, but very few actual Christians). The Constitution forms a secular document, and nowhere does it appeal to God, Christianity, Jesus, or any supreme being.
During the presidential campaign of 1880, the Christian Union made the admission that, of the nineteen men who, up to that time, had held the office of President of the United States, not one, with the Possible exception of Washington, had ever been a member of a Christian church [John E. Remsburg].
Four presidents are positively affiliated with Unitarian churches, and a fifth (Jefferson) was an exponent of ideas now commonly associated with Unitarianism. Unitarians by definition fall outside of Trinitarian Christianity, and the question arises as to the degree to which the presidents themselves held Christian precepts (which is fun to know, since I am fully a Unitarian Universalist. So maybe the 7 principles of UUism, should be our American values in this list of the trinity of values, huh? Another bunny chase: If you are curious and wanna know what those 7 are, Go Here )
The idea that Liberty comes from God is equally absurd. The Monarchist use this same argument to support that system of government, and it makes just about as much sense as liberty coming from God. Liberty comes from humans, and yes can be taken away from by humans. I think there are plenty of examples of that around the world to prove this point.
The other point to consider is that Christianity is dying here in the US. If current patterns hold, the Christian church will be a minority in about a decade. There are even predictions of the death of evangelicalism completely, a little over a decade from now (I don't think it'll happen, and the reports of it's death are being exaggerated; but the decline, I do believe, will continue as predicted). The recent PEW studies as well as others prove that, even if, "In God we Trust" ever really was a value of the US, it no longer applies to all of us, if it ever did. The "none" religious category now out strips the black population in the US. 1 in 5 US adult males will claim "No Religion" when asked. The inclusion of this phrase as an American value, as far as I am concerned, is dead wrong. I wont even go into the other things I found wrong in this gentleman's talk (like we are all born equal in society...I wish it were true, and I like the idea of it, but it anit and never was).
American values are no more exceptional than any other nations, and it is elitist and wrong to think so... this coming from a girl commonly accused of being elitist ;)
This is only a small, incomplete response, since the whole thing would be a book if I were to argue every point I found wrong in this video (oh and the anti education glib at the end made me fume for a few 3 minutes, so I am not gonna even touch it here).
The motto of "In God we Trust", is a fairly recent thing in the US. "In God We Trust", is the official motto of the United States and the U.S. state of Florida; but didn't become so till after the passage of an Act of Congress in 1956. The motto E Pluribus Unum ("from many, one") was approved for use on the Great Seal of the United States in 1782, and was the only type of motto, till that act of congress in the 50's .
Despite it not being a Federal motto till the 1950's, it was first used on a single coin in the year 1864, when Congress passed the Coinage Act (1864). This legislation changed the composition of the one-cent coin and authorized the minting of the two-cent coin. It wasn't until 1873 that the motto was placed on all coin types, for "In God We Trust" first appeared only on the 1864 two-cent coin.
I argue that the idea of "In God we Trust", is not a founding value of America, nor is it a current one. A quick bunny chase here: Many of those whom I see arguing for this, also argue for a Golden age back in 1950's; back when America was pure, simple, blah blah blah...They forget the whole section of the country that couldn't vote without great opposition or even sit in places reserved for whites only; or how about lynching. Yeah, Golden age my fat ass. I'll take this year over any year in the 50's hands down, thank you very much. Enough with that chasing bunnies, back to topic.
"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church"...
"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit"...
"Each of these churches shows certain books, which they call revelation, or the word of God. The Jews say that their word of God was given by God to Moses, face to face; the Christians say that their word of God came by divine inspiration; and the Turks say that their word of God, the Koran, was brought by an angel from heaven. Each of these churches accuses the others of unbelief; and, for my own part, I disbelieve them all"
~(Age of Reason)Thomas Paine
For those who have bothered to read the Jefferson Bible, they find a Jesus without superhuman powers, no miracles, no God-hood; but a man and reformer. Jefferson wanted to get rid of the mythology of Jesus, but keep the teachings he found helpful (just as I think he would have done with the Buddha, had he had more contact with Sidhartha's teachings, or any other great teacher.)
"Rogueries, absurdities and untruths were perpetrated upon the teachings of Jesus by a large band of dupes and importers led by Paul, the first great corrupter of the teaching of Jesus."
"The clergy converted the simple teachings of Jesus into an engine for enslaving mankind and adulterated by artificial constructions into a contrivance to filch wealth and power to themselves...these clergy, in fact, constitute the real Anti-Christ."
"I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature."
~Thomas Jefferson
"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Musselmen; and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."
John Adams in the Treaty of Tripoli
The list goes on: Adams, Franklin, Madison, and some even think G. Washington was not the most religous of men.
"Gouverneur Morris had often told me that General Washington believed no more of that system (Christianity) than did he himself."-Thomas Jefferson, in his private journal, Feb. 1800.
"George Washington's practice of Christianity was limited and superficial because he was not himself a Christian... He repeatedly declined the church's sacraments. Never did he take communion, and when his wife, Martha, did, he waited for her outside the sanctuary... Even on his deathbed, Washington asked for no ritual, uttered no prayer to Christ, and expressed no wish to be attended by His representative."~Historian Barry Schwartz
Most of those who were the framers of this country and the constitution upon which our "American Values" are based, made it clear that those values did not come from God, but from men (both atheists and deists, but very few actual Christians). The Constitution forms a secular document, and nowhere does it appeal to God, Christianity, Jesus, or any supreme being.
During the presidential campaign of 1880, the Christian Union made the admission that, of the nineteen men who, up to that time, had held the office of President of the United States, not one, with the Possible exception of Washington, had ever been a member of a Christian church [John E. Remsburg].
Four presidents are positively affiliated with Unitarian churches, and a fifth (Jefferson) was an exponent of ideas now commonly associated with Unitarianism. Unitarians by definition fall outside of Trinitarian Christianity, and the question arises as to the degree to which the presidents themselves held Christian precepts (which is fun to know, since I am fully a Unitarian Universalist. So maybe the 7 principles of UUism, should be our American values in this list of the trinity of values, huh? Another bunny chase: If you are curious and wanna know what those 7 are, Go Here )
The idea that Liberty comes from God is equally absurd. The Monarchist use this same argument to support that system of government, and it makes just about as much sense as liberty coming from God. Liberty comes from humans, and yes can be taken away from by humans. I think there are plenty of examples of that around the world to prove this point.
The other point to consider is that Christianity is dying here in the US. If current patterns hold, the Christian church will be a minority in about a decade. There are even predictions of the death of evangelicalism completely, a little over a decade from now (I don't think it'll happen, and the reports of it's death are being exaggerated; but the decline, I do believe, will continue as predicted). The recent PEW studies as well as others prove that, even if, "In God we Trust" ever really was a value of the US, it no longer applies to all of us, if it ever did. The "none" religious category now out strips the black population in the US. 1 in 5 US adult males will claim "No Religion" when asked. The inclusion of this phrase as an American value, as far as I am concerned, is dead wrong. I wont even go into the other things I found wrong in this gentleman's talk (like we are all born equal in society...I wish it were true, and I like the idea of it, but it anit and never was).
American values are no more exceptional than any other nations, and it is elitist and wrong to think so... this coming from a girl commonly accused of being elitist ;)