Atheists Oppose Religion in New Capitol Visitors Center
An Atheist public policy group today urged Congress to reject a House Resolution that would use more tax money to display religious mottos in the new Capitol Visitors Center (CVC) in Washington, DC.
Introduced by Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Ca.), the measure instructs the Capitol Architect to erect displays at the Center which include revised versions of the national motto ("In God We Trust) and the Pledge of Allegiance (includes "Under God.").
Dr. Ed Buckner, president of American Atheists, said that displaying religious slogans on government property "violates the letter and spirit of the First Amendment, and is an insult to the millions of Americans without religious beliefs."
"Every American who cares about religious liberty should oppose this divisive establishment of religion which uses public tax dollars to support religious bigotry," added Buckner.
Dave Silverman, Communications Director for American Atheists, noted that the national motto was "E Pluribus Unum" ("One out of Many") until 1956. The words "under God" were added to the Pledge in 1954 at the behest of certain religious and civic groups. Both practices continue to be challenged in the courts.
"These slogans are inappropriate today, especially at the Capitol Visitor Center which was built with over $600 million in public money to welcome all Americans to our nation's capital," said Mr. Silverman.
Buckner said that American Atheists will be urging its members to speak out against the Lungren plan.
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We had an election in 2000 in which our supreme court (5 out of 9 are catholic) elected Bush - the candidate of the religious WRONG - and put severe tampering with votes in Florida aside.
Iran just had an election in which their theocracy forced the outcome.
Iran is Alah this and Alah that.
The US is christian god this and christian god that.
If we want to show the world that we are keeping all superstitions outside of government then we should not have god on our money and our president should not end his speeches with "god bless America".
We are no better then "the enemy". It is one theocracy against another one.
We need to take separation of reason (state) and superstition ( church ) really seriously. Anything less than 100% separation is not acceptable.
It is not that atheists are pushing anything down anyone's throat. It is that we object to the government being involved at all. People are welcome to put their own flavor of superstition down their own throat but none of that has any place in government.
Atheist will never stop pushing there beliefs on people.As long as they have the money to fight for there beliefs.The last time I looked at US MONEY it said in GOD we trust.Funny!
Isn't that also true of Christians?
The motto "In God we trust" was a recent addition to our money ... the result of a revival that took place at the start of the previous century.
Our country was founded as a secular state, where religion was kept out of the government.
But as I posted above, on the seal of the United States there's part of a recipe for cheese topping. This doesn't mean that the President is made of Kraft singles.
It doesn't? To bad if he was maybe the USA would be in better shape.I would take a cheese head over Obama any day.
Regarding Under God, and In God We Trust, I have a hard time having a problem with it. Sure, it's technically blasphemous according to my beliefs, but I've learned to tolerate other opinions. These things have historical significance in that they were, for a long time, part of the United States official motto, pledge, etc.
Funny side note. E Pluribus Unum comes from a poem that may have been written by Virgil. The poem is a recipe for a type of cheese topping.
understand that the tune of the Star Spangled Banner is to the tune of a European drinking song. Have you heard anything about that? I'm legitimately curious.
To some extent, I do agree that this almost seems like a nit-picky issue. But at the same time it bothers me significantly when a government leader mentions "God" on behalf of the people of the country. I wish there could be some more acknowledgement by leaders that not everybody in the country has their same religious beliefs.