I have had many debates with friends over this, but what are you ideas about having things like "In God We Trust" on our coins. Our founding fathers based our laws on the Bible so why should we take out our principals about Him. I believe this country will fall without Him. This video (please watch before answering, there are some good quotes that I can't put down here right now)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYtCanpBhVg
Shows you some things that this country was founded on. What are your ideas about it.
2007-08-01 10:55:58 · 32 answers · asked by pippenintheshire 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
i agree .. this country will spiral downward to destruction without God ..
2007-08-01 10:58:48 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 12⤋
The founding fathers did not base our laws on the Bible. They based them on common sense. Some of the laws in the Bible are common sense laws, so they sound similar. The Treaty of Tripoli, (1797) ratified by US Senate and Signed by the President of the United States John Adams. Article 11, reads:
"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.."
As for how I feel about having "In God We Trust" on our coins? The same way you would feel if you saw "Praise Allah" written on our coins. It's not anything that's going to kill me or anything, but why is it there? Our legal goverment-issued coins and dollars are not religious artifacts..
And as for our "Founding Fathers"...here's some quotes from them on the subject.
”Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear." - Thomas Jefferson
"Religions are all alike - founded upon fables and mythologies." - Thomas Jefferson
"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government." - Thomas Jefferson
"In no instance have . . . the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people." - James Madison
" The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity." - John Adams
"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches." - Benjamin Franklin
"The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma."
-- Abraham Lincoln
"The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity."
-- John Adams
"Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man."
"And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter" (April 11, 1823)”
"There is not one redeeming feature in our superstition of Christianity. It has made one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites"
-- Thomas Jefferson
2007-08-01 11:29:42 · answer #2 · answered by Jess H 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This country's laws are not based on the bible. That being said...
I don't personally believe in god but i don't think that he should be taken out of everything. People who believe in god have a right not to have god shoved down their throats; however I also believe that Christian's have a right to not have him banned from everything and have to keep their faith in private. It is a touchy subject and we are never going to come up with a solution because EVERYONE will never be respectful of other people's beliefs even though the constitution says we should.
2007-08-01 11:02:21 · answer #3 · answered by human_meat_is_yummy 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's silly child's play. As far as I know, "In God we trust" has always been on our coinage, but "Under god" wasn't added to the pledge of allegiance until the 1950's. You're historically incorrect about the founding of our country. Many of our founding fathers were in fact nonreligious (Thomas Paine), or at least had wildly different ideas of God than modern Christianity (Ben Franklin). The philosophical underpinnings of our constitution are rooted in the enlightenment, arguably the most important philosophical movement in history (in my opinion).
Every theocracy in history has had abysmal human rights records. I don't think this is a coincidence. When you have a set of laws arbitrarily dictating every aspect of a person's behavior, and you are motivated to control those people ──► witch hunts, inquisitions, crusades, etc. The significance of the separation of church and state in this country cannot be overstated.
2007-08-01 11:02:11 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
America is well over 80% Christian. How is it that so many Christians managed to cause all the problems addressed in that video?
"In God We Trust" was added to the paper currency of America in 1957. Right about the time the video claims the country began to fall apart. Maybe that phrase is part of the problem.
2007-08-01 11:05:25 · answer #5 · answered by Sun: supporting gay rights 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
How would it fall the country was founded on religion. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of press aren't these things that your "god" would have looked down upon? because with these freedoms people have the right to say what they want about your "god" and to write what they want as well as worshiping who they want. Personally I don't care about the "in god we trust" being on money for the simple fact I don't read money. But I think your silly in thinking that the country would fall without "god". The laws weren't based on the bible as much as they were on common sense and freedom. Why would they base their laws on a book that isn't of everyones religion?
2007-08-01 11:05:04 · answer #6 · answered by lilli 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I don't believe that this country was founded on the bible (actually, I'm quite sure it wasn't). I have no problem with having some words on our coins, but who says that "In God We Trust" means the Christian god?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbGopoUGcEk
Are you going to watch this video now?
2007-08-01 11:00:49 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Um, I'm sorry to shatter your illusions but our laws are NOT based on the bible. Obviously in the bible there is no mention of separation of church and state, as there is in our constitution.
In fact, as you would know if you took law history classes, our laws are based primarily on English Crown Law and French Civil Law.
Now, about our founding fathers. They were from several different religious backgrounds, some of the Christian, however, mthe main reason they left was religious persecution. The Quakers, Shakers, Puritans, and other sects who made up America's founders were all driven out of Europe by mainstream Catholics and Anglicans, and came here to found a country based on tolerance and not bound to religious laws.
2007-08-01 10:59:27 · answer #8 · answered by TheEconomist 4 · 7⤊ 1⤋
The U.S. will "fall" without having "In god we trust" on our coins? Huh?
God needs our coins with his name on them to keep our country together?
So, what are the principles that we take from the bible that our country is founded on?
1. Democracy? No.
2. Equal rights for all people? No.
3. Death penalty for adultery, blasphemy, not keeping the sabbath, nor respecting your parents? No.
4. In "god we trust"? Not made our national motto until 1956.
5. Biblical Law? Absolutely not.
Try again, honey.
2007-08-01 11:06:43 · answer #9 · answered by fredanderssen 2 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Our country was NOT founded on "the Gospel". It was founded on freedom from unfair taxation, the right to liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This country will fall if the insidious infiltration of religion continues. Bush is a Christian fanatic, he's filling the government with the same. Please save the country and adhere to the separation of Church and State!
2007-08-01 11:01:28 · answer #10 · answered by Johanna 4 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Our founding fathers did not base our laws on the Bible. They purposely left God out of our Constitution. The reason is that they saw how divisive it was in the years before that.
What are the 10 Commandments? How many of them actually are depicted in our laws? Killing and lying are, but they are also depicted in laws of non-Christian countries. Other ones are not laws, and some have been explicitly mentioned in the Constitution as not permitable to be made laws.
2007-08-01 10:58:55 · answer #11 · answered by nondescript 7 · 11⤊ 1⤋