Are Atheists offended by the U.S. currency, "In God We Trust"?

Answer 1

no im not

Answer 2

I'm offended by the phrase, not because I really care about whether or not people believe in God, but because I care about the Bill of Rights. Specifically, I care about the First Amendment. You know, the one where those silly founding fathers decided to say that the government shouldn't make laws respecting any religion? The purpose of that, and of erecting, as Jefferson put it, a "wall of separation" between church of state, was to prevent the sort of religious intolerance that they had seen constantly in Europe for centuries past, and the violence it had caused. Suppose a religion rose to prominence which denied the existence of God? Propaganda like "in God we trust" could easily be used to deny them their religious freedoms. More practically, it is an affront to the freedoms of all atheists and agnostics (and deists, and pagans, and buddhists, and....), as it suggests that people who don't believe in God are somehow second-class citizens. It is not appropriate for government currency to endorse any religious belief, as doing so suggests that anyone who doesn't hold such a belief is somehow "less American", which is not the case. You don't need to be a WASP to be an American citizen.

I also, on a secondary level, find the quotation unappetizing (and rather unpatriotic) because of its McCarthyistic, Cold War-derived history. I imagine that the founding fathers would be horrified to learn that the motto they'd originally established for their country, "E pluribus unum" ("Out of many, one"), had been replaced by such an Unamerican slogan. (Unamerican not because Americans aren't chiefly theistic, but because America is distinguished from the rest of the world by its tolerance for many different views, not its intolerance and exclusionism.) Replacing our original national motto, and the motto on currency, with "One Nation Under God" would be like if they'd replaced "The Star-Spangled Banner" with a musical rendition of "Pater Noster" as our national anthem. It just ain't kosher.

Answer 3

I'm not offended by it but I think that it violates Separation of Church and State regulations.

No one realises that IN GOD WE TRUST was added to our currency in the 50's during a time of total nationalism and anti-Communism.

It should be taken off now.

Answer 4

Yep, send me all of it that you can, and I will get rid of it just as fast as I can.
I am not from USA, so I really feel sorry for you guys. That silly phrase got put there during the McCarthy era anti communist cold war paranoia fest. The Idea was that the Godless Atheist Commie Spys would not be able to use it because they were, well, Atheists. The Need to swear to God in the oaths of office was put in for the same reason at the same time.
It really makes your countries people look a bit nuts. A bit like heavily armed dangerous nuts.
Please don't blow up my country for this!

Answer 5

Not at all. When I handle or spend coins, I don't examine the wording, the date, or anything else - - - just the value. Having the words "in God us trust". Adds nothing to the coin or takes anything away.
Atheists are not all kooks who think they might be blinded by the word God.
I do think that there's some strange thinking when people claim more and more religious messages should be permitted because of the coins and pledge, and the engraving on some public buildings. The arguement is that if we have some, we should have much more.
There's a limit, I don't think we should be required to paint GOD on everything we touch, our cars, our houses, everything.

Answer 6

All those who cherish religious freedom are offended by the presence of any religious motto on the currency of a nation that is founded upon such personal freedoms as the right to believe and worship as one's conscience guides.

Answer 7

I'm not an atheist, but I'm somewhat offended- not by the In God we trust but by how it got there and what it means.

It's a McCarthyism, and we as a society have moved past that dark point in our history.

McCarthy was really the darkest moment in our history. The nearest correllary would be if there was a swastika on the Euro. (Our dark was not as dark, but it was still dark!)

Since most Americans are shockingly ignorant about how it got there, though, they aren't offended.

Answer 8

Not really offended, no. It shouldn't be there but I hold no real emotional feeling towards it.

Besides, as the US transitions to a magnetic strip or RFID economy, tangible currency will go the way of the dinosaur and this whole silly thing will be a nonissue.

Answer 9

I personally am not offended by this. I don't think currency is out there to convert me to theism; it's just a thing of cultural significance.

Answer 10

I am. I always cross out "God" from "In God we Trust" off of all my money.

It's unconstitutional. It should be omitted. The currency in England has a picture of Darwin. Let's be more like them!

Answer 11

I'm not an Atheist and this is stupid. This country was founded on "separation of church and state." Why then do they violate that separation and let the state print the words "In God We Trust" on all the currency? It's just pure hypocrisy.