U.S. court tosses lawsuit over "In God We Trust"

[kylebisme]

Originally posted by: Thump553
Based soley on that news article (and not upon a reading of the original court opinion) it strikes me that the decision rests upon a very stretched and tenuous redefinition of "secular." Must be a activist judge (g).

The phrase "In God We Trust" has an inescapable religious meaning to me. But frankly whether that violates the establishment clause of the Constitution ranks about as high to me as the question about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

I respect your opinion there and agree as well, but obviously the man who took this issue to court saw more importance in this issue, and like any citizen he deserves a fair ruling.

Originally posted by: Thump553Our country has a lot more important issues to address, certainly more intrusive efforts to establish conservative christianity as our official religion than this. I'd much rather see the issue of federal funding being paid to "faith-based" charities (and disbursed under said faith's guidelines, rather than secular ones) be addressed legally.

I'm right with you on that one, if you think you have an in-road to bring the issue to justice then just say the word and I'll do whatever I can to help.

 

[senseamp]

Both "In God We Trust" on our money, and "Under God" in the pledge were added in the 50's to differentiate us from the atheist communists. Both are government endorsements of religion (over atheism) and are unconstitutional. Of course most judges won't stand up and rule it that way since most of America is religious.

 

[kylebisme]

While "In God We Trust" was added to the dollar back in the Commie scare, it was on coins back to the mid 1800's.

Regardless, It would be an affront to my faith if our currency said "In the Gods We Trust" or "In No God We Trust." In that same sense, our current "In God We Trust" is a violation of the free exercise of religion of anyonewho does not hold monotheistic beliefs.

 

[Taejin]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060613/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_life_atheist_lawsuit

Judge Frank Damrell of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California held in his opinion that "In God We Trust" is secular in nature and use, and its appearance on coins and currency does not show government coercion on behalf of monotheism.

:thumbsup:

I am an atheist and I agree with the court's ruling. There's a lot of retarded issues fundies try to bring up, and there's a lot of retarded issues nonbelievers try to bring up.

 

[BurnItDwn]

The use of "In God We Trust" and "Under God" and swearing on a bible is all silly IMO. But I don't see any true harm coming from it, so it doesn't bother me that much.

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

Originally posted by: DealMonkey
Consider how vehement I am about separation of church and state, and even I believe this is a reasonable decision. "God" is a universal term that applies equally to virtually all religions (and I can't think of a religion that doesn't believe in some sort of God).

"In God We Trust" is clearly a reference to the Christian god, otherwise it would say something to indicate the different gods for each religion, such as "In a God We Trust". And then that excludes Atheism, which has no god at all. I don't believe it should be on currency or coins, but I also realize that we're in a dark time when we have to choose our battles, and deciding what should or shouldn't be on money is way at the bottom of a long list of things that are severely screwed in this country (unless they vote to put Bush Jr. on there, at which point I pretty much give up).

It's ironic that the christian conservatives that keep the phrase on only seem to really worship the money it's printed on, not the diety they claim to follow.