In Fantasy We Trust

Surely a subject such as the national motto must seem like an insignificantly small thing to most people. After all, a national motto is not only totally unnecessary, it is also perhaps the least important component of our national identity.   

We should take care to remember, however, that too often large consequences result from accumulations of small things.

That’s why I think it was a particularly sad day for the Untied States of America and the First Amendment in the year 1956 when Congress unconstitutionally in my opinion officially injected religion into the republic by changing the national motto from the inclusive phrase: “E Pluribus Unum,” (Out of Many One) to the divisive: “In God We Trust.”

That same Congress had two years earlier in 1954 changed the wording of the already unconstitutional government loyalty oath, known as the Pledge of Allegiance, used by the authorities to coerce state worship in school children, to add the words “under God,” thus forcing them to worship both the state and a religious deity at the same time.

Now, if you still tend to think that those are small things, just consider for a moment the reaction from the majority of believers had Congress changed the national motto to “In Atheism We Trust,” and the wording of the Pledge of Allegiance to: “One nation without God.”

I can safely assure you that those events would have brought about a second American Civil War. Few would have thought of it as small things.

No, the majority of Christian believers in America believe that religion and God are not small things. They want a government God because they are insecure about their own personal faith and need the government to support it for them. And the government God they demand must be the God of the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible.

Of course their demands for a government God are patently unconstitutional in violation of the First Amendment Establishment Clause, but the U.S. Supreme Court predictably found ways to overcome that impediment.

In the case of the national motto the Court, in total disregard of the Constitution, and in the sole interest of pacifying the religious majority, concluded that the “God” that we supposedly trust is not a religious reference at all but instead a rather dubious formulation of what it termed: “ceremonial deism.”  In other words they concluded disingenuously that God is not God.

In the case of the Pledge of Allegiance the Court dodged the question of constitutionality altogether by holding that the petitioner lacked legal standing to bring the case because he was not the custodial parent of the child involved.

So today we still have a government God imposed upon all Americans, believers and non-believers alike, and everyone knows, including the disingenuous justices of the Supreme Court, that that government God is none other than the God of Genesis, the God of the Hebrew and Christian Holy Bible.

The small matter of the national religious motto has become a large consequence for the minority of non-believers who now have to contend with the majority of religious fanatics who are not satisfied with their government God confined to just the motto and the pledge – they’re now insisting that their God be enshrined in all matters having to do with government.

After all, they reckon, if “In God We Trust” is the national motto, why not plaster that religious motto above the front door of every government building, in every government public school classroom, and upon every government document.

Majority rules! That’s what they say now.

A Tennessee courthouse this week, for example, unveiled the first of four “In God We Trust” signs in gold leaf lettering on 170 pound granite plaques. One local pastor isn’t worried about what atheists think because Christians “have a right to the democratic process and majority rule." The national motto is now the Anderson County Tennessee motto after the matter was put to a vote.

Calvary Baptist Church Pastor Steve McDonald suggested that separation of church and state could be ignored because of “majority rule… This is people standing up for what they believe in,” said McDonald. “We have a right to the democratic process and majority rule.”

But that’s unconstitutional opined ACLU-Tennessee Executive Director Hedy Weinberg. “People of all faiths, as well as non-believers, should feel welcome in their government buildings … government must remain neutral when it comes to matters of faith.”

“We don’t need to deal with that ACLU crap here,” croaked the County Mayor’s husband.

“Whether you agree with this or disagree with this, the democratic process took place,” the Clinton Baptist Association Director of Missions declared. “The majority of the U.S. citizens will continue to believe, and will not be ashamed to say, ‘In God We Trust.’”

“We need God in it,” another resident exclaimed. “We need a God thing. If we don’t have a God thing we’re going backwards. Amen.”

So a simple majority of believers in Anderson County Tennessee trumps the First Amendment, and it’s all because of a disingenuous United States Supreme Court that approved the religious phrase “In God We Trust” as the national motto.

The United States of America, which was conceived as a nation under laws – not of God or men – will now have “In God We Trust” plastered prominently in every courthouse, schoolhouse and government building in the land.

Courthouses, of all places, which are supposed to be bastions of reason under the rule of law; places intended to engender among the populace trust in the law, will now be sending the explicit message that the judges within are actually placing their trust, and the people’s business before the court, in God first and perhaps the law second.

The bitter irony of all of this is that religion and God are the very antitheses of reason as anyone who has actually studied the Holy Bible knows.

The lesson of the Ten Commandments, for example, is that law is not the product of man’s reason, or logic, but commandments from God. One must obey because of God’s commandments – not necessarily because to do so is reasonable, or right and just.

“God destroys the perfect and the wicked, the earth is given to the wicked, and where is He?” wondered Job… Let Him not terrify me and I would speak to Him, but He is not so with me… Why does God despise His own works and shine upon the wicked? … Have you eyes of flesh? …  are you like a man … You know I’m not wicked, yet you destroy me … If I sin, woe be to me, and if I’m righteous, I can’t be proud … I’m so confused …” Job: 3-9.

That is God’s way. His unreasonable conduct is not to be questioned, only feared. God cannot be known. Ultimate Authority is always invisible, unaccountable, capricious and unpredictable. The God of the Bible works total nonsense.

“A scorner seeks wisdom, and finds it not, but knowledge is easy to him that understands; Ways which seem right to man are the ways of death… All of man’s ways are clean in his own eyes, but God weighs the spirits.” Proverbs: 1-21.

“Why reason these things in your hearts?” Jesus preached. Mark: 3. He demanded blind faith as against reason, logic, or any –questioning of authority.

“Woe unto you also, ye lawyers!” declared Jesus, “for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers… Woe unto you, lawyers! For ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.”

Jesus preached that the law’s approach to disputes contradicts God’s plan. Reason, logic, and debate as the means of resolving problems are not condoned by God. His Authority demands that we live by faith alone. Jesus wants people to allow others to do them evil, just as he did while he was alive.

“Ye have heard that it has been said: An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also,” said Jesus. “And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.” Luke: 11.

This is the reality of “In God We Trust.” It is explained in detail in the Holy Bible. But it is certainly not the reality most people would expect at a courthouse and in a court of law of America in the 21^st century.

When “In God We Trust” is our national motto, engraved upon currency and government buildings; when it is written in gold leaf on the courthouse door; it is the same as acknowledging:

“In Fantasy We Trust.”