The latest piece of insanity to arrive in my inbox seems hysterical enough, but of course it was written as a cold, calculated attempt to push the nut buttons and release another wave of irrational religious anger toward supporters of the US constitution. Nothing works quite so well for so long as the endlessly repeated threat that "They" are trying to take God off the money, where God so longs to remain.
We are due for a new series of Lincoln Cents this year, which is the year Honest Abe turned 200. The reverse side of the coin will contain scenes from different parts of his career. There will be four versions. The obverse side will remain the same as it has looked since 1909 when Victor D. Brenner designed it to replace the "Indian Head" coin to honor Lincoln's 100th. There are no plans to remove "In God We Trust."
The viral e-mail of course only shows us the plans for the reverse side, but belief addicts never ask, do they? They just believe. They just have to have the adrenaline, the feeling of belonging that believing brings. Of course we went through this with the Presidential Dollar Coin series and of course the fact that each and every coin in that series had God engraved on it never affected the beliefs of the gibbering Republican idiots who still have palpitations over the outrage. I've had shopkeepers refuse to accept them and one refused to be shown that In God We Trust was indeed there for fear, no doubt, that the Devil would drag him down to hell for looking.
The fact that th
e supply of attempts to restore our coinage to what it was before the Civil War when politicians needed to use religion to get people to kill their own countrymen, has long exceeded the demand and so the Liars of the Lord have to invent more. Worse, they have to heap fallacy upon fiction and invent an entire paranoid fantasy to inflame the three chambered hearts of their devotees.It's because of the ACLU of course, along with the Atheists, the Jews, the Liberal stooges thereof -- and continuing down the slippery slope of fallacy: if they can take God away from the penny they surely will outlaw prayer in Churches, have the word God eliminated by fiat from the English language and forbid the sale of Bibles. No, I'm not making this up, they are.
Ignore them at your own peril.
If it wasn't so horribly clueless, this would be hilariously funny. They just never quit, do they?
ReplyDeleteThese nuts have to create an enemy to give themselves credibility. This strategy is everywhere. I'm a Christian but as long as my quarter works in the machine I don't care what it says. And how many people have been saved or turned to satanism because of what was engraved on a penny?
ReplyDeleteIt's time for a series of reverse-viral emails. "I can't believe it -- I got a new penny today, and 'In God We Trust' was engraved right on the front! But all those emails said it would be removed!! I can't believe someone would LIE to me in an email!!!"
ReplyDeleteAs I've said, there are a number of people who will believe the e-mail but won't believe their eyes. It just feels too good to be that angry to let reality intrude.
ReplyDeleteThis thing wasn't produced by the angry idiots who soak it up, it was produced by well funded people plotting to overturn our constitution.
If one really is religious, that one should be the first to oppose having God on the money and I've met countless clergymen who agree.
Every morning when we recite the pledge I resolutely leave out "under God." This is a country, not a house of prayer. Yes, I am Jewish so that must be the reason for these treasonous thoughts. But treasonous thoughts are what brought this country to being. So I say separation of church, state and coinage is the way to go. Gay marriage anyone?
ReplyDelete"This is a country, not a house of prayer."
ReplyDeleteYES! and since one man's prayer is another's heresy, let's all just shut up about it.
I don't recognize the Eisenhower addition and I don't accept the legality of requiring loyalty oaths of students and since the God crap makes it a religious test, it's unconstitutional and so has no official standing.
I once had to sign a loyalty oath - it was either that or no job. It went against so many principles I hold dear. If faced with the same decision again - I would sign again. I am not full-time employed. I have no certain economic future. So the reality is that I will again suck it up & sign again if need be.
ReplyDeleteI can not afford principles when it comes to employment. It absolutely galls me that this is so.
Sadly - there are many other like me. And because of this loyalty oaths can't be fought by those of us compelled to sign. And those who don't have to sign aren't really aware of them. Soooooo - kinda like the money issue - nothing is going to change.
And does swearing a loyalty oath make anyone MORE loyal? And loyal to what? Will we not protect our homes and families and way of life without an oath?
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing, is now that some of us have done posts on our founding fathers' various faiths (deism and atheism included) and pointed out their objections to religiousity in government, the new conservative take is to claim that while the dear men may have "thought" those things, that is Not what ended up written into the Constitution, so Jefferson, Paine and Franklin to name just a few are reduced to bit players in our country's formation.
These convoluted meandering slanderings make me want to poke my eyes out!
A commenter on another blog condescendingly explained to me over the weekend, that Jefferson, although he at one sad time in his life "questioned his faith," he was a committed Christian who believed our constitution was an expression of the Bible and so the latter trumps the former.
ReplyDeleteThe choice for me is either a final descent into nihilism or become a mass murderer.
It never ceases to amaze me how you can produce volumes refuting the premise that our founding fathers had some "Christian" agenda in forging this nation when just the opposite is true and the rightwing nuts completely ignore it and just blather on with some moronic spin that they didn't really mean it or something.
ReplyDeleteThese men lived in The Age of Enlightenment. The movement influenced our constitution as well as France's and the Dutch. All these men were avid readers and scholars and frequently cited the works of Hobbs and Locke. Jefferson and Franklin were deists and not just for "a sad time" in their lives. And what "sad time" in Jefferson's life would account for this break down of faith? He was a wealthy man and lived a long, rich life.
I think the whole neocon agenda is to simply keep recycling this tired old mythology until they wear us out disputing thier nonsense.
"until they wear us out"
ReplyDelete-- yes, that's a fine description of the m.o. Nothing is so exasperating as setting a misconception to rights only to find it repeated without alteration immediately thereafter. It's a tactic as old as the hills and so widespread that one encounters it from elementary-school playgrounds to the halls of congress.
I suppose the perfect example is the way certain prominent Republicans keep saying "Democrat Party." They know the adjective is "Democratic," but they don't care because the point is to taunt, annoy, and distract the opposition. Childish and stupid, but effective in its stupid and childish way.