Atheists, non-believers say 'In God We Trust' has no place in Nebraska classrooms

[trotsky]

https://fremonttribune.com/news/local/education/atheists-non-believers-say-in-god-we-trust-has-no/article_5168943c-1657-5b26-a3a2-a1912622aaf6.html

Call it an act of God — or don't — that a Tuesday snowstorm kept would-be testifiers on a bill requiring "In God We Trust" from filling up the Legislature's Education Committee hearing room.

In a marathon 2 1/2-hour hearing, all but two of the dozen people who testified on the first day of committee work called Sen. Steve Erdman's bill (LB73) a naked attempt to inject religion into Nebraska's public school system.

Erdman's proposal would require the national motto adopted by Congress in 1956 to be hung in all classrooms or school common areas.

...

Joseph Couch of Lincoln, who told the committee he was an atheist, said bills such as Erdman's are part of a national trend "to distort the definition of religious freedom and our nation's history," coming as more people are abandoning religion in the U.S.

Some people - including an occasional DUer - will chide atheists and non-believers on separation battles over "In god we trust" and other mild nods to theocracy. This kind of shit is why we fight. You give an inch, they take a mile. Now they can frame their bill as displaying "the national motto" instead of acknowledging it to be a specifically religious slogan.

[brewens]

1. It seems the motto needs to be updated. "In Vlad We Trust" would be more appropriate

for some people anyway.

[greymattermom]

2. A rabbi once told me

that Jews believe in God, but they can believe that God is anything they want G-d to be.

[Act_of_Reparation]

3. A priest once told me dead guy rose from the grave and played "guess who" with 12 of his friends.

Don't believe everything you hear.

[Major Nikon]

5. Nailed it

(pardon the pun)

[unblock]

4. when mrs. unblock converted to judaism, she asked the rabbi, "i'm an atheist, is that a problem?"

the rabbi said, "i hope not, i'm an atheist, too!"


christianity is a religion of faith. membership in christianity is very closely tied to belief in god (and jesus).

judaism is a religion of identity. we *have* a god in our religion, but belief in god is not a necessary part of *being* jewish.

[NeoGreen]

6. I always ask, "What's Wrong with the One-And-Only Original US Motto"?...

...you know, the one created by the Founding Fathers, and which was so universally accepted they didn't even have to vote on it.

[trotsky]

7. It was a far superior motto, one that literally united us.

Stupid Red Scare.

[Sneederbunk]

8. Kids need to leave cash at home.

[trotsky]

9. Because that's the same thing as a school promoting the display of a religious message, right?

[guillaumeb]

10. The phrase "In God We Trust", in my view, is an unacceptable

attempt to inject religion into a secular setting.