In God We...Whoops... Forgot History

One of the most common assertions I hear in America by religious people is that America was founded upon Christianity. That America was founded upon Christian principles. And I just want to make this post to address to you that this is not true. It is just not true, and when you try to prove to me that it is in fact true, you make yourself look really, really, stupid and ignorant.

This here is the back of a one dollar bill, and on the back it says: In God We Trust. Religious folk like to point out that on most, if not all American Denominations (that has been made in the past thirty to forty years) has that phrase “In God We Trust” on it. Doesn’t it seem a bit fitting that all the hyper religious woo-woos out there associate their God with money? When I think of the root of all evil, as the Bible describes as money, I think of God.

We, as Americans, a nation as a whole, we have men and women who make statements in public forums that would be shouted down if they were generated by any other source than the majority religion; statements that marginalize those who don't share those beliefs. Let’s look at Sally Quinn and her piece in the Washington Post. Her piece “Romney Captures the God Vote at First Debate”  in which she responded to Governor Romney’s statement that all Americans are "children of the same God,”

Quinn wrote “This is a religious country. Part of claiming your citizenship is claiming a belief in God, even if you are not Christian.. We’ve got the Creator in our Declaration of Independence. We’ve got 'In God We Trust' on our coins. We’ve got 'one nation under God' in our Pledge of Allegiance. And we say prayers in the Senate and the House of Representatives to God...  Up until now, the idea of being American and believing in God were synonymous."

No you are wrong. Atheists and agnostics are making up an increasingly large slice of the American citizenry pie.  A poll in 2004 found that 9% of respondents claimed "no religion;" a similar poll in 2008 saw the same demographic jump to 15%. 

It would appear that Mrs. Quinn doesn’t know her history. The addition of "... one nation, under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance occurred in 1954, "to acknowledge the dependence of our people and our Government upon … the Creator … [and] deny the atheistic and materialistic concept of communism."  "In God We Trust" was added to coinage in 1955, and became the official motto of the United States a year later. Now, let’s go even further back in history to examine what was originally on the coin. The original motto was “Mind your business”

Quite frankly that is a fantastic motto to put on a coin. So here is my question for all you religious fanatics out there, why do you feel so strongly to ignore the constitution, in order to replace “Mind your Business” to “In God We Trust” as our national motto? Just some food for thought