"In God We Trust"

[Catherine Vincent]

This email was sent to me from a friend.

WRITE IT ON THE BACK OF YOUR ENVELOPES

You may have heard in the news that a couple of Post
Offices in Texas have been forced to take down small posters that say "IN GOD WE TRUST."

The law, they say, is being violated. It is something silly about electioneering posters (is God running for office)?

Anyway, I heard proposed on a radio station show, that we all write "IN GOD WE 'TRUST" on the back of all our mail. After all, that is our national motto, and it's on all the money we use to buy those stamps. I think it is a wonderful idea.

We must take back our nation from all the people who think that anything that offends them should be removed. If you like this idea, please pass it on and DO IT. The idea of writing or stamping "IN GOD WE TRUST" on our envelopes sounds good to me. I'M HAVING MY STAMP MADE TODAY!

It has been reported that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore, I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a mess about having "In God We Trust"on our money and having God in the pledge of Allegiance. Could it be that we just need to take action and tell the 14% to
sit down and shut up?

If you agree, pass this on, if not delete.

[Fixated]

1. ...

I hate that saying. I cross it off of every bill I come into contact with. Is that illegal? Oh yeah.

[redeye]

12. It's prolly legal

There's a precedent for that; you have a constitutionally protected right to put your license plate in a way that hides the state motto if there is one (I think it was NH's "live free or die" in question).

[outinforce]

22. And in the District of Columbia,

And in DC, people who drive can request to have license plates that do NOT say "Taxation Without Representation".

If they so desire.

[edward]

2. Christianity, the religion of No Irony.

..."all others pay cash."

[trof]

3. "All others pay cash"

the punchline

[edward]

5. sarcastic minds think alike

[anti_shrub]

4. Hmm, that last line sounds familiar.......

"Could it be that we just need to take action and tell the 14% to
sit down and shut up?"

Bill? Is that you?


SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!@!

[yolatengo]

15. I pray...

every day that a woman like that will find herself in the "14% minority" on
some issue. No doubt she'll just (Stewart Smalley-like) look at herself in
the mirror and say:

"I'm wrong, I'm in the 14% minority, so I'm just going to shut up!"

A liberal is a conservative who's been unjustifiably arrested and
a "they should just all shut up cuz I'm the majority" person
quickly becomes a whiner (Weiner?) when their own ox is gored.

Bigby

[Mari333]

6. That wasnt the original national Motto

It was originally

"Mind Your Business"

In god we trust was put in back in the 50s during the McCarthy era...

besides, it doesnt say christian god..it could mean Zeus or an Alien from Deep Space Nine...


pfffffft .

[arcane1]

23. In "The Sisko" we trust!!!

I'd trust Ben over Bush OR God anyday!!!

The Sisko for 2004!


:needgeekemoticonhere:

[TSElliott]

7. It's a free country...

write what ever you want on the back of your envelopes.

[Catherine Vincent]

32. You're right.

When Bush* was selected, I started to order a stamp that says "Bush Sucks" and put them on the back of everything I mail, including some bills that I don't pay online. But I was afraid some right wing numbnut worker at the post office would see this and trash my mail or something.

[TSElliott]

33. If someone trashed your mail

it would be against the law.

[AntiCoup2K4]

34. How about we write

GEORGE WALKER BUSH JR IS A CRIMINAL FASCIST PIECE OF SHIT!

Think the Freepers would have a problem with that act of civil disobedience?? :evilgrin:

[TSElliott]

39. Write what ever you want.

I cannot understand why people pay so much attention to what could possibly be written on mail, in mail or next to mail.

I would rather watch 1970's game show reruns than worry about mail.

[Hokie]

8. Wow, that is soooo radical and daring

:boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring:
:boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring:
:boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring:
:boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring:

That will really shake up we atheists and have us quaking in our boots. Let's see I wonder if I could get a stamp with the lyrics from MC Hawking's song "Fuck the Creationists" made. I will just send nothing but really large envelopes.

[Boudicea]

9. Why is this necessary?

Can't you folks just worship who/what you please and shut the F*&() up about it!

[dwckabal]

20. such hostility!

Let's hope you were being facetious!

[dwckabal]

10. yes lets do that,

let's be just like Bill O'Lielly and tell everyone that doesn't aggree with us to "sit down and shut up!"

Please! It's not about being offensive (for the most part).

(If I write "IN SATAN I TRUST" on the back of my mail, I wonder how long it would take for Ashcroft's army of snoops to descend upon my house looking for sacrificed babies?)

It's about respect for another person's beliefs, and not forcing your beliefs down other people's throats. The Post office is a PUBLIC GOVERNMENT building, and as such should be free of all religious trappings.

I hope you deleted that offensive e-mail.

[roughsatori]

11. I was taught that taking the Lord's name in vain was a sin

I think it is sacrilegious to put that on money. "Love of money is the root of all evil," would be the quote to place on the legal tender.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

21. "Love of money is the root of all evil" on currency!

excellent idea, I really like it :)

[Sophree]

41. I find it blasphemous as well

God should not be invoked on money (of all things.) Talk about an affront.

It also violates separation of church and state.

[HereSince1628]

13. I thought the motto was E Pluribus Unum

sigh

and whilst I am editing...

"from many, one" speaks a lot more to the ideas of a constituional republic, even if "annuit coeptis."

[redeye]

18. It was

It was changed in the 1950s in the climate of utter paranoia, though.

[BiggJawn]

28. Was done so "Commies" wouldn't handle our money...

The line "under God" was put in the Pledge , so that if any "Godless Commie" tried to lie and say the Pledge, his tongue would stick to the roof of his mouth and blood would spurt from his nostrils.

Same thing with the money.

The idea was that if you handed somebody their change, and the money had "In God we Trust" on it, it would set their hand on fire, thus exposing them as a "Godless Commie"...

I guess then you grabbed them and got the town Elders to convene a Stoning....

Never heard whether or not "Godless Commies" cast shadows, showed reflections in mirrors, or could abide sunlight and running water....<sarcasm>

[zoidberg]

29. Motto appeared on money in 1860s, not the 1950s

The Congress passed the Act of April 22, 1864. This legislation changed the composition of the one-cent coin and authorized the minting of the two-cent coin. The Mint Director was directed to develop the designs for these coins for final approval of the Secretary. IN GOD WE TRUST first appeared on the 1864 two-cent coin.
http://www.ustreas.gov/education/fact-sheets/currency/in-god-we-trust.html

Edit: Also the Star Spangled Banner has the words:
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

[Sophree]

42. Yes, it was the Pledge of Allegiance that changed in the 50s

Not the money.

[alonso_quijano]

14. God on money?

Invoking God in the Pledge or a courthouse is merely an affront to the Constitution.

Invoking God on money is an affront to God.

[dwckabal]

17. After all,

it was Jesus who ran the money changers out of the temple and called them hypocrites (BTW, his worst epithet for someone).

[redeye]

16. You should've deleted, methinks

Anyway, I should start stamping stuff with "god is a myth," or, better yet, "Christians are assholes."

[dwckabal]

19. Your'e sure to start a flame war

with that. In defense, not all Christians are assholes (I think you know that). I know some perfect assholes that have no religious beliefs at all.

I like the crossing the phrase off the money deal, but what do you do with coins?

[ArkDem]

30. Boycott money

.

[AntiCoup2K4]

38. How about atheists are assholes?

And apparently some of you are every bit as bigoted as the Freeepers :grr:

[damnraddem]

24. OK, let's demonize all minorities of one-seventh of the population.

Each in turn can be told to 'sit down and shut up.' When the process is finished, the few left standing should then be marked with a permanent sign of some sort, just as a warning to others -- they are the type of people that decent people don't want to be around.

I'm an agnostic, and I will neither sit down nor shut up. I don't much care about 'in God we trust,' but IT IS NOT our national motto. It is something some legislators got added to our money. Actually, it may be a very-accurate statement: the god in which the U.S. truly trusts is the Almighty Dollar. Re the Ten Suggestions monument in Alabama, note that many other depictions of the 10Cs in public buildings (including the Supreme Court) are not being got rid of -- because they HAVE been in place for many years, so are historical relics; because they are not intrustive, do not push themselves into everyone's face; because they are not a giant monument emplaced by a yahoo trying to make this coutnry a theocracy. The issue is favoring a given religion, government proselytizing. That's a no-no, whether the religion is Christian, Jewish, Islamic, or any other, including agnostic.

[arcane1]

25. what, no promise of good luck if you forward it to 10 people?

emails like this usually end that way

[BiggJawn]

26. Have you gotten the one about the "EID" stamp yet?

looks like Lance Armstong's bosses are coming out with a stamp to commemorate Eid this year.
So my local wingnut forwards me this gem:

"REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of PanAm Flight 103!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the military barracks in Saudi Arabia!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the American Embassies in Africa!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the USS COLE!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11/2001!

REMEMBER all the AMERICAN lives that were lost in those vicious MUSLIM attacks!

Now the United States Postal Service REMEMBERS and HONORS the EID MUSLIM holiday season with a commemorative first class holiday postage stamp.

REMEMBER to adamantly and vocally BOYCOTT this stamp when purchasing your stamps at the post office. To use this stamp would be a slap in the face to all those AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this stamp honors.

REMEMBER to pass this along to every patriotic AMERICAN you know.



--- MackCain

--- [email protected]

--- Thought for the day: Be the first to say "Hello"...."

I WAS gonna come up with a reply listing about a dozen CHRISTIAN attrocities (Crusades, Spanish Inquisition, etc.) but figured "why bother?"...

So, I guess I know which stamps *I'M* buying this year! Of course, I'll have to go to the Big City to get them, because my local postmaster doesn't get anything but those "flag" stamps that i use upside-down. He says that's all anyone wants to buy.

Wait till they come out with a stamp with a picture of a magical 9-11 teddy bear on it....He'll sell a billion of 'em!

[damnraddem]

27. Hey, maybe they just got the motto wrong by one letter:

'In Gold we trust.'

[sinkingfeeling]

31. There's something really wrong in the USA

when somewhere between 75 and 85% of the population doesn't understand the underlying principals that the country was based on (and they were not GOD-related). The whole purpose is to provide for the rights and protection of minority groups against an overwhelming majority. Christianity by definition is the antithesis of democracy. It seems to demand submission of the person to only one power and the god in the Old Testament possesses the personality of an anti-social, egotistic, psycopath, lusting for revenge and death!!

Why do religious people try so hard to mix country and religion? The nut cases in Alabama can have tons of granite shaped into anything their hearts desire and plopped down on their lawns, TV sets, patios, or whereever. They can tatoo a commandment on each one of their knuckles for all I care (but, if they are true believers, why isn't keeping the words in their hearts and fullfilling them in their lives enough?). However, I will fight to the death their demands to stick the things in PUBLIC places. I call them hypocrites, because they 'pick and choose' what they want from the Bible and tend to ignore most of what Christ taught.

You may put anything you want on the back of envelops, but I can toss it into the trash. I do not utter, "under god", when saying the pledge, nor do I want anyone forced into saying it.

I am a non-believer in some super power, somewhere in the universe. But I think I'm a better 'christian' then most who attend church regularly on Sundays.

No one is storming churches and burning their scared texts, relics, icons, etc., so why can't the religious keep their religion within the confines of their homes and churches?

[helleborient]

36. Here we go again...thanks for the smearing

One Christian who does none of and believes none of what you say...

But you willingly choose to ignore us and believe that Roy Moore IS Christianity.

What a bunch of baloney

I'm pleased I don't live in your world of simplistic definitions and vicious stereotypes.

[sinkingfeeling]

48. Sorry....

I did not mean to imply all believers were evil or such. I've just been so mad at the TV-fest in Ala. and the poll results saying that the majority don't see anything 'wrong' with keeping TCs in public places. I really do know people that live by their beliefs and conscience and don't try to convert everyone they see.

[Blue_Chill]

35. Another Stupid Christian hell bent on making more Atheists

You wouldn't beleive the amount of moronic stamps some of these people use. I've seen "Beware the Gay Agenda" stamped on donations we recieve at my office.

I work for a Christian Micro Enterprise Charity. We get some whackos every now and then.

[helleborient]

37. One of the things I really liked...

At the Dean rally in Chicago on Tuesday was his statement that we will take back the U.S. flag from Bush and the right wing and make it a symbol for all of us again.

There are a number of Christians working to do exactly the same thing with the word Christian. We are working to take it back from being a code word for right wing fundamentalism and make it again a word that represents all of Christianity.

[TSElliott]

43. Take it back?

How can you take something back unless you gave it away in the first place? And even if you were to "take it back", you would never change the opinion some hold for Christians.

[Blue_Chill]

46. opinions some hold

Those that will never change don't concern me. However I don't want people leaving the church because the current definition of Christian no longer defines them.

I for example no longer attend mass. I can't stomach it.

[TSElliott]

50. Christians...

are only defined by those who view them. Most of those views will never change because the individuals have such hate for organized religion. One can witness the distaste for Christians every day on these boards as people use the term as a slur. To even address those is a waste of time and effort for they are not even worthy to be called friend.

I believe that Christians do not need to change how others view them; they just need to change how they view themselves.

You Blue_Chill should now this better than anyone on these boards, for I have repeatedly seen you take abuse for your beliefs. I on the other hand have been lucky because I practice a religion that seems to not draw the attention of the blame religion crowd.

[helleborient]

45. I was talking about people as groups...not myself personally

And I do believe liberal Democrats have too easily given away the flag as a symbol.

And that liberal Christians have done the same thing with the word Christian.

It's high time to begin working to take both back.

Both require a lot of hard work and take a lot of time...worth it to me.

[magnolia]

40. This whole monument thing...

...in God we trust...makes me see red!!! Not because I don't believe in God...I do. But because of these arrogant, ignorant fundies who think that they define God! They don't...and the bible doesn't either! The fact is that most, not all, of our founding father's happened to be Christian, but they did in fact acknowledge all religions, and some even practiced other religions. A number of them believed in re-incarnation. The God in "in God we trust" is not Jesus, or exclusively the Christian God. And if any fundies disagree...ask them why there are no crosses on money???? The interesting symbol on the dollar bill is actually the "Eye of Horas". Horas (spelling may be wrong) dates back to ancient Egypt, thousands of years before Christ. He is the son of Isis and Osiris and was the Divine Child. Share that bit of info with your fundie friends. The symbol cleary represents the Great Pyramid in Egypt, which was built with a gold cap stone, which later disappeared. If they claim that the triangular shape represents the trinity...you can say "You are absolutely right...but...the trinity happens to be in every religion, even religions that pre-date the bible by thousands of years. Thus...the trinity did not originate with Christianity."

[helleborient]

44. Thank you thank you thank you

For successfully addressing both the desecration wrought by the fundamentalist right wing of Christianity and informing some other non-Christians that their big brush is a little too wide.

[CO Liberal]

47. Sounds Like the Story is TRUE

From the Snopes web site:

In November 2002, a United States Postal Service (USPS) supervisor ordered the removal of these posters from the lobbies of government-owned post offices in several Montgomery county towns (including Montgomery, Dobbin, and Willis) because they "did not fit within postal guidelines," citing a USPS regulation prohibiting the "depositing or posting of handbills, flyers, pamphlets, signs, posters, placards, or other literature (except official postal and other governmental notices and announcements) in interior public areas on postal premises." (A small post office north of Houston was allowed to keep its poster on display after a supervisor determined that the office was a privately-run contract facility and was therefore not subject to the same "facility standards" as government-owned post offices.)

<more>

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/motto.htm

[Cassandra]

49. In a Letter to the Editor recently

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/letters/la-le-gourlay26aug26,1,385487.story?coll=la-news-comment-letters

" I recently read that approximately 86% of Americans believe in God. The words "In God We Trust" are on our money. I've pledged allegiance to the flag with the words "one nation under God" included. Controversy over having a wooden cross on a hill above Ventura and the Ten Commandants in a Southern courthouse makes me wonder if it's time we told the other 14% to just shut up.

Jim Hostetter

Oxnard"

I assume these are someone else's talking points.

[MrBenchley]

51. Without that, God will die

Yes, he's the all-powerful being that moves the stars...but he's in big trouble unless you scribble on your envelope....

"We must take back our nation from all the people who think that anything that offends them should be removed."
Like the Constitution and secular government?