I read the letters, and I agreed with most of what was said. And now, to digress a little bit, the new silver dollar now being placed into circulation is missing “In God We Trust.” I will not accept this dollar in change, and instead, I will ask for a one dollar bill. Deletion of those words is carrying the separation of Church and State too far, in my opinion and that of others.
As far as I can tell, none of the new coins (circulating or commemorative) omit the motto “In God We Trust.” Frankly, the one commemorating the anniversary of the writing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” could have changed it to “In God is our Trust” (more closely matching the words of the poem) for that issue of currency. But looking at all the dollars being issued for 2012 on the U.S. Mint’s web site, none of them leave off the motto. There’s been an internet false legend circulating since at least 2007 about this.
One of the letters raises the interesting idea that the Jefferson Bible was a creation of Jefferson’s dotage, during which he compiled some clippings of his favorite passages. Fascinating revisionism, that.
Re no. 1, I have yet to find a coin without the “In God We Trust” motto. What is the source of this information?
There can be a good deal of reference to God in official coinage and oaths etc. because such passing references, being largely if not completely devoid of theological compulsion, fall short of the Establishment prohibition. Several of the letters in the post make this point at least obliquely. This kind of thing falls into the category of what a Supreme Court justice once referred to as “ceremonial deism”, and is perfectly acceptable because it is without inherent meaning. That some of us take our own deeper meanings away from these incantations doesn’t render them unconstitutional. Where state officials, however, impose prayers, we have the double problem of constitutional violations, and low-quality, socialistic religion. The last place most religious people want to go for religious inputs is a bureaucrat without religious training. If you don’t like govenrment-provided health care, you really wouldn’t like government-provided religion.
I read the letters, and I agreed with most of what was said. And now, to digress a little bit, the new silver dollar now being placed into circulation is missing “In God We Trust.” I will not accept this dollar in change, and instead, I will ask for a one dollar bill. Deletion of those words is carrying the separation of Church and State too far, in my opinion and that of others.
As far as I can tell, none of the new coins (circulating or commemorative) omit the motto “In God We Trust.” Frankly, the one commemorating the anniversary of the writing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” could have changed it to “In God is our Trust” (more closely matching the words of the poem) for that issue of currency. But looking at all the dollars being issued for 2012 on the U.S. Mint’s web site, none of them leave off the motto. There’s been an internet false legend circulating since at least 2007 about this.
One of the letters raises the interesting idea that the Jefferson Bible was a creation of Jefferson’s dotage, during which he compiled some clippings of his favorite passages. Fascinating revisionism, that.
Re no. 1, I have yet to find a coin without the “In God We Trust” motto. What is the source of this information?
There can be a good deal of reference to God in official coinage and oaths etc. because such passing references, being largely if not completely devoid of theological compulsion, fall short of the Establishment prohibition. Several of the letters in the post make this point at least obliquely. This kind of thing falls into the category of what a Supreme Court justice once referred to as “ceremonial deism”, and is perfectly acceptable because it is without inherent meaning. That some of us take our own deeper meanings away from these incantations doesn’t render them unconstitutional. Where state officials, however, impose prayers, we have the double problem of constitutional violations, and low-quality, socialistic religion. The last place most religious people want to go for religious inputs is a bureaucrat without religious training. If you don’t like govenrment-provided health care, you really wouldn’t like government-provided religion.