Air Force Removes "God' from Logo; Religious Right Goes Nuts
By Simon Brown
It seems there is no limit to the minute, inane issues that get the Religious Right all hot and bothered.
On Feb. 6, 36 members of Congress -- including Congressional Prayer Caucus Co-chair Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) --sent a letter to Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz in protest of the removal of "God" from the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO) logo.
In their letter, Forbes and his allies said “The action taken by the RCO suggests that all references to God, regardless of their context, must be removed from the military. We ask that you reverse this perplexing decision.”
The logo, which was recently altered thanks to a complaint from the Military Association of Atheists and Free Thinkers, contained the motto Opus Dei Cum Pecunia Alienum Efficemus (Doing God's Work with Other People's Money). The motto is now Miraculi Cum Pecunia Alienum Efficemus (Doing Miracles with Other People's Money).
I’m not much of a Latin scholar, but I’m glad the Air Force changed the motto. This was an affront to church-state separation, plus it was kind of weird. Apparently the motto had been an inside joke for years, but I don’t think it’s especially funny.
For some reason, religious mottos have been a big issue lately in Congress, especially for Forbes. If you recall, the Virginia Republican was the one who led the crusade in the U.S. House of Representatives in November to have “In God We Trust” reaffirmed as the official motto of this country, even though absolutely no one had suggested it wasn’t the motto.
Doesn’t Forbes have anything better to do? He’s so busy making sure that the word “God” is attached to every motto in the United States that he must not have time for much else – like helping fix the economy.
Forbes said in November that he’s out to end “a disturbing trend of inaccuracies and omissions, misunderstandings of church and state, rogue court challenges and efforts to remove God from the public domain by unelected bureaucrats.”
Far more disturbing than the horror stories Forbes is spreading are his efforts to inject religion into as many aspects of public life as possible. His duty is to uphold the Constitution. Instead, he’s ignoring it.
If I were able to sit down with Forbes, I’d have just one question for him – who is hurt by having “God” removed from an official U.S. military motto?
Putting God’s name on the motto of a government-funded institution is deeply offensive to nonbelievers, those who believe in many gods, those who believe in the Goddess, those who refer to their deity or deities by another name and, frankly, anyone else who appreciates church-state separation.
Forbes and his allies need to understand that they are wading into deeply divisive ideological matters at the expense of doing the jobs they were elected to do. It’s time they refocus their energy on helping the citizens of the United States in a meaningful way, rather than taking offense at a change to an insignificant motto.
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It's only " minute, inane issues that get the Religious Right all hot and bothered. " when it's from those you don't agree with. If they were still working to take the word out, it would be a different story. I am glad they took the word out, because this government is not of God and I hate when they try to use him for their own evil purposes.
Here is the funny part that the Christo-fascists just don't get:
"For some reason, religious mottos have been a big issue lately in Congress, especially for Forbes. If you recall, the Virginia Republican was the one who led the crusade in the U.S. House of Representatives in November to have “In God We Trust” reaffirmed as the official motto of this country, even though absolutely no one had suggested it wasn’t the motto."
In this country, "In God we trust" has never been this nation's motto. It has always been "E Pluribus Unum" (out of many, one).
When these religious nuts finally get over themselves and realize that this is a secular nation, not a Christian one, everyone will be far better off. Perhaps they should read the Constitution at least as much as their bibles. Then they might just figure it out.
The insanity principle is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. The far right, the far left, vegans, creationists and other extremists believe in the insanity principle, religiously.
The motto does have problems when you start to talk about honesty in advertising. However, the symbolism of the eagle under Russia's Red Star inside the Pentagon. Now that could be badly interpreted.
Remember, all these "great patches" come from our tax dollars at work. Of course it was the anti-deists who got all whiny over this "minutiae" and demanded it's removal.
Define "all whiny". Do you mean a reasonable request to follow the law of the land (the Constitution) and remove an illegal reference funded by taxpayer money?
"Anti-deists?" DO you also mean people that state there is not evidence whatever for any deity? How can you be against something that does not and never has existed? Do environmentalists hate Paul Bunyan for cutting down all those trees?
Atheists simply want to be free of the evil influence of religion in their daily lives. Id others want to remain fooled by the greatest scam on humanity, that's fine. Don't demand special privileges because you're delusional. Don't demand others follow your rules.
Most of the problems of the world have been caused by religion. Think of the crusades, the inquisition, the dark ages, the witch burnings, the restrictions on learning, free speech, instilling guilt and shame into children, and the wars fought in the name of religion.
More recently, think of family planning clinic bombings, oppression of gays and non-believers, murders of doctors and homosexuals, imposition of religious beliefs by force of law, and illegal use of public funds to promote particular religions.
Mankind will never truly be free until the black yoke of religion is lifted by the clear light of truth and rational thinking.
If freedom means anything, it is the liberty to tell others what they do not want to hear.
Your argument is exactly the intolerance that I referred to as whiny. When anyone makes some reference to a deity, you and your ilk seem hell bent to attack it's very existence. It never seems to be the Jews or the Christians who are suing to force the institution of religion in public places. (It does trouble me however that in all your references never seem to be willing to question bending over for the Islamists, but that is another topic.)
In fact if you look at the U.S. Constitution and it's application, there is no wall to make society godless. There is a protection against the Federal Government establishing a required, singular form of worship. I suggest that it is your attempt to create more than a secular environment, but a pure "anti-religious" environment is the establishment of a State Religion and an imposition on the free practice of religion by others.
I believe that your interest in freedom from religion is best summed up by Karl Marx - "Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkes".
@ross80477:The USA always used a "red star" when the emblem was designed.
Chuck
Thanks, but I was not commenting on the history of the star, I was simply alluding to potential interpretations of even semi-secular symbols. Often the difficulty is in explaining these concepts. Hopefully, someone is out there saying, maybe we should spend less time being offended and more time trying to solve actual problems.
"Forbes and his allies need to understand that they are wading into deeply divisive ideological matters at the expense of doing the jobs they were elected to do..."
Like fixing the economy that McDonnell, who is governor of Va, and who said republican (governors) are the reason the economy getting better.
Hmmm....he has to have economic bills to sign into law from such people as Forbes. If Forbes is that he’s out to end “a disturbing trend of inaccuracies and omissions, misunderstandings of church and state, rogue court challenges and efforts to remove God from the public domain by unelected bureaucrats", how is it that he is helping the economy?
Altogether class: The GOP is full of sanctimonious two-faced hypocrites.
Excellent article. In fact, it is sort of offensive the statement, "other's people money." It seems to be treating taxpayers with a bit of disdain. Than again, our whole military industrial complex is not completely built on national defense but increasing the profit margins of military contractors.
Jerome McCollom
First of all it's hardly an improvement - miracles or God - most religious nutters would be happy with either.
But the worst part is "with other people's money"
Say what?
If the Mafia had a motto ...