American currency has, "In God We Trust." What does this mean to you?

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   Deb Welchposted 11 years ago

   
   Everyone must have there own connotation for this phrase - have you ever given it any thought?

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      Healthy Pursuitsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      All it means to me is that in the 1950's, some zealots who didn't know that church and state were designed by our forefathers to be separate in the U.S. managed to put their personal opinions on our currency. It doesn't belong there, as we are a nation of multiple religions, as well as people who don't believe in any god at all. We should all be represented on our national currency. If one religion manages to make a lot of inroads, one day we may find that we have lost our freedom of religion.

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         Annsaloposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Couldn't agree more.

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         ScarlaBlackposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, I agree as well.  I'm young, so I never lived in the '50s, but I think I read that, in the Soviet Union, religion was actually banned (so the government basically forced them to be atheists).  During this time was the start of the Cold War, and more importantly the second Red Scare in America.  As the Soviet Union banned religion, I think that the United States tried to cling to its religion as a response.  However, the United States that we think of at that time is much less diversified than now.  Even if that isn't the case, and there were plenty of Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, etc and people of different religions, the fact remains that, as the media tried to show, most of America was of Protestant, or at least Christian faith, and so put that phrase in to further show the differences between the Soviet Union and the United States.
         
         Of course, I could be completely wrong and that had no place in the zealousness of certain individuals!  But that's what I think.  I'm not saying that it isn't wrong or anything, but I think it provides somewhat of an explanation to why that was added to our currency.  Remember that the Pledge of Allegiance, the first patriotic thing that is drilled into your head since kindergarten, contains the phrase "under God", and I'm pretty sure that was added during the Cold War, so I think the currency goes with that.
         
         I don't know if it makes a huge deal or not in religious freedom.  Most of the people I know (and I do know plenty of people that do not believe in the Judeo-Christian God, or have another belief system) simply use money and go on their way.  However, if it does offend many people, I think it should be changed so as to, as Healthy Pursuits said, represent all of the nation.

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            Deb Welchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I think it will a sad day when they remove God from everything that has been considered important.  What type of verse should be used that would be accepted by all - I wonder.

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      Brenda Durhamposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      It means that America as a whole believes in God, period.
      The Christian God, the God of the Bible, the Creator of the earth and of mankind.
      Not the Islamic "god", not atheism, not anything or anyone but God Himself.
      We are a Christian Nation.

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         Paul Wingertposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Yeah right.

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            wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            She's probably right in that that what it means.
            
            Hardly means it's true but then nothing else our govt. says is either.

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         Zelkiiroposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         The Founding Fathers would tell you to go back to Britain.

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   Reality Bytesposted 11 years ago

   I pledge allegiance on my life.
   
   
   In life we trust
   
   ?

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      Deb Welchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yes - In Life and In Love, We Trust in each other.

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   Greekgeekposted 11 years ago

   For me it's a history lesson.
   
   The phrase comes from the Star-Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key. It was the motto of a Union brigade during the Civil War, and then the Union began to print it on money in a propaganda effort to take the religious high ground, claiming the Union, not the Confederacy, had God on their side.
   
   The original old motto of the U.S. before that was e pluribus unum, "out of many, one," and I feel that ever since, our country's internal struggles have been symbolized by those two different mentalities.
   
   "In God we trust" came and went on money after the civil war. It really got locked in as offiical during McCarthyism in the fifties, the same period that saw the phrase "under God" added to the Pledge of Allegiance.
   
   Before, we were "out of many, one." People had settled this country from many different background and religious traditions, and this was officially recognized and treated as important. Now, adherence to one set of religious beliefs is treated as the "one" thing that's common currency among us, and the "many" are regarded as somewhat suspect.
   
   We've come a long way since the framers of the Constitution first insisted on the separation of church and state. And the country will continue to evolve. But it's interesting to see how the changes introduced by one generation are enshrined as The Way Things Are by the time their grandchildren are in power.

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      ScarlaBlackposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      At first I was really confused because I never remembered that phrase in the U.S. national anthem, but apparently it's from a verse rarely sung!  Thanks for some of the interesting information!
      
      Although I do feel that the motto "out of many, one" seems to fit in better with today's America.

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      Deb Welchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yes -  Latin phrase - E pluribus unum - one out of many —used on the Great Seal of the United States and on several United States coins?  Definition from Merriam-Webster.com  - This seems to fit better.

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 11 years ago

   "In God We Trust" is to trust in God who loves us, who made us, who is the reason we are here. God and His love is the ultimate reality. It is exceedingly powerful to have it on our currency... It should remain. Actually, it underlines the spiritual nature of business, itself!
   In God We Trust.

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      wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Powerful.  Do you think that the more of those dollars that you have with those words printed on them, the more power God will supply you with?
      
      Or that putting the words on our money will bring God to the side of America?  Because I have to say that every people in every battle that ever happened has claimed a god on their side...

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      Deb Welchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Kathryn -  said correctly - it should stay on our currency.

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   Paul Wingertposted 11 years ago

   In god we trust on our currency means it can be removed anytime now. While we're at it, we can do away with "under god" in the pledge now that the cold war is long over. We have "In God We Trust" on the penny and nickel even though Lincoln and Jefferson were atheists, good one.

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      Kathryn L Hillposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Lincoln was not an atheist! Either was Thomas Jefferson.  Spreading untruths again, people. Stop it!

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         Zelkiiroposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         George Washington was a Deist, never went to church, and laughed at the idea of a personal God.
         Lincoln was a fringe non-denominational non-church Judeo-Christian.
         Thomas Jefferson was definitely an Atheist.
         So was Benjamin Franklin.
         And Thomas Paine.

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            wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Shhh!  Facts will ruin the idea that America was created by Christians, as a Christian country forever.  And for goodness sake, don't mention that Jamestown Landing was a penal colony or that the Puritans ran from Christianity and promptly began persecuting everyone in sight when they got here.

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         Deb Welchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Abraham Lincoln and Elvis Presley were both Jesus Christ in the flesh. No Atheist.  America was founded on Christianity and God Almighty was their Boss.  They were strict believers and followers of Core Values according to the Holy Bible.  Today not so much.

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   Paul Wingertposted 11 years ago

   Again?

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