September 18, 2015

“One Nation under God”

 

-By Jim Culp

 

I am responding to all of the online posts about “One Nation under God.”

Here’s an easy fact to counter that slogan.

This is not meant as a bash on any religion, because you are free to worship however you please under the First Amendment to the US Constitution…

However, if one insists that “we are One Nation under God”, he/she would need to define first who or what “God” is.

I know many would say immediately that they are talking about God, Jehovah; the God of the Christian bible.

OK, well, let’s take a look at that.

According to Wikipedia, here’s the statistics: “Protestant (37%) Catholic (23%) None (16%) Other Christian (10%) Other (6%) No answer (4%) Mormon (2%) and Jewish (2%)”.

So, even though they can’t agree with each other, 72% of our population calls themselves Christians. (these statistics will vary depending on where you look)

But wait a minute…the First Amendment is clear about religion. It states:

“Amendment I. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Uh-oh. I do believe we have a contradiction in terms here. The idea of “God” is one borne out of religious practice. If you don’t want to define your God as “religion”, that’s cool, but the Constitution does.

The slogan “One Nation Under God” appears many places, but the one place that is appears Legal Tender is on coinage and Federal Reserve Notes.

So, when our government decided in 1913 to implement the Federal Reserve in place of actual banks handling currency, it started printing “In God We Trust” on coins and paper notes.

So that, ladies and gentlemen, is in direct contrast with the Constitution of the United States of America.

It’s perfectly ok with me if you want to have slogans for you and your household. But do not try to place a religious label on me or my family. “One Nation Under God”, as defined by the American Christians of today, means that I’m under the yoke of your religion. To that I say nay. I am not a member or supporter of your beliefs or your religion, and as a citizen of the USA, do not wish to be counted as such.

The Constitution of the United States says I have that right, and just like the Second Amendment allows me to OWN AND CARRY firearms, the First Amendment protects me from becoming a slave to a tyrannical theocracy.