God Is Cursing America

Buz, you forgot the whole slew of the decline of morality and of society as opposed to the vast majority of USA history (counting from the Revolution/Constitutional Convention time onward). Most all of which dates back to the mid-1950's.But wait! What is the National Motto? "In God We Trust". But since when? In 1776, it was established as "E Pluribus Unum", which means "out of many, one", a statement of the unification of diverse parts. When did that change? Our National Motto, the one which had guided our great nation from its very founding up until within my own lifetime and, I would assume, also yours, was scrapped by a Republican Congress and Republican President in 1956 in favor of a purely religious statement, "In God We Trust." We as a nation fared very well, grew and prospered, under the old Motto, and have declined precipitously under the usurper motto. In 1955, one year before that calamitous decision, that same offending blasphemy was ordered to be printed on all our money. Is that the "Mark of the Beast" that the fundamentalists keep harping on? That would be affixed upon all our money?The atrocity committed against the Pledge of Allegiance, is more minor, since the Pledge only dates back to 1892 and wasn't adopted by Congress until 1942, no doubt as part of the WWII war effort. For its first 62 years, it extolled "one nation indivisible", but then as the first Republican onslaught against America, the Pledge of Allegiance was the first to be corrupted in 1954 with that singular statement of American unity, "one nation indivisible", being split asunder with sectarian religion, the phrase "Under God". It happened the year before I entered Kindergarten, but my impression is that you are older than I am and so should have gone through the experience of having been raised on one Pledge only to have it one year suddenly changed out from under you. At my sons' one Little League game when the Pledge was performed, a local grand-dad left out the offensive "under God", remarking that the nuns had beat it out of him -- apparently, the Catholic schools weren't immediately on-board with the new-fangled Protestant bullshit that the government was trying to impose on them; the entire parochial school system was created in response to the Protestants using the government to impose their religion on all students and blocking any public funds from going to Catholics for their own schools, a legislative and legal legacy which now prevents Protestants from being able to divert public funds to their own sectarian religious schools -- Karma does work!. BTW, the 1940's lawsuits challenging the teaching of Protestant religion in the public schools were filed by Jewish parents. Do you have any idea why, after a couple millennia of pograms and other Christian atrocities, Jewish parents might have some feelings about Christianity being jammed down their childrens' throats? No, I didn't think that you would.So, Buz, we aren't being especially damned because of the gays, but rather it started back in the 1950's with religious sectarianism, the very antithesis of the ideals of America. Or to quote the main protagonist of the new TV show, "The Newsroom": "I'm a conservative, but I don't blame global warming on gay marriage."BTW, Buz, Dr. Adequate poses an interesting question. Since America has become Sodom and Gomorrah and you, as Lot, must flee it, where are you going? What nation is righteous enough for you? The Taliban regions of Afghanistan come to mind.Oh, and don't let your daughters corner you in a cave and get you drunk. Unless you happen to be into that kind of sick stuff.Edited by dwise1, : Catholics opposing Protestant bullshit being imposed on them by the government

You mean like saddlebacking, that popular Christian practice for preserving virginity and Christian virtue? Helluva straight line there.

No, that was already done soundly by Tangle as he listed all those disasters far outside the time you're talking about. The only way we could take your assertions seriously would be to completely ignore the facts and the evidence. Same as with creationist claims.So we're giving the thread all the seriousness it warrants.

Rather an odd nit-picking quibble. If you can think of a single verb that would apply to both coins and paper money, then why not suggest it?It is still a solid fact that the law requiring "In God We Trust" appear on all US currency, both paper and coin, was passed in 1955; full implementation was not achieved until the Kennedy Administration. The fact that it had also appeard sporadically during and after the Civil War does not in any way negate the solid fact of the 1955 federal law.I had known about the Civil War origins of the practice ever since the mid-1980's when I first learning about the events of the mid-1950's. As I posted on CompuServe on 10 November 1992:

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One documentary shown on PBS included a film clip of a Boy Scout giving the Pledge of Allegience. I knew that that clip predated 1954 because he said "one nation, indivisible". Those words are a testament to the unity of our nation. Then in 1954 (One NINE Five Four), in an act of great symbolic importance (unknown to them), Congress divided those words with "under God". Since that symbolic dissolution of our national unity, things have been going downhill (if you doubt that, just ask any "traditional values" advocate).

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Since 1776, our National Motto was another testament to national unity: E Pluribus Unum (Lat. "Out of Many Parts, One"). Then in 1956, Congress scrapped this expression of national unity by replacing it with "In God We Trust." To those who say we must return to "In God We Trust," I ask, "However do you think we got by and grew and prospered the first 177 years WITHOUT that motto?" Our moral decline since we have dumped our traditional values and adopted that new motto is well-known and bemoaned.

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Here's some further historical background on "In God We Trust." F.Scott Key used similar wording in his "Star Spangled Banner." During the Civil War, a minister wrote to Lincoln suggesting that the words "In God We Trust" be stamped on Union currency, which it was in 1864 and then very sporadically afterwards. In 1955, an act of Congress required it to be placed on all US currency. Then in 1956, Congress made it the new National Motto.

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The Wikipedia article, In God We Trust, gives a detailed history of the phrase and its implementation during the Civil War (describing the issues of having to get Congressional approval of such changes) and of its appearance on and disappearance from various coins, though with no mention of paper money. It concludes that section noting: "Since 1938, all US coins have borne the motto."Is that what you were trying to say? That the 1955 law's effect was to extend the practice to paper money? In part, yes, that would be true. But the 1873 Coinage Act, passed by Congress, only gave permission for "In God We Trust" to be inscribed on coins (and, indeed, the practice came and went and came back again), whereas the 1955 law not only extended the practice to paper money, but also made it mandatory.The article and other sources have noted the increased religious fervor during the Civil War as in the North the war was turning into a quasi-religious crusade and during the Red Scare and rampant anti-Communism of the mid-1950's. As for myself, I am very reactionary as I stand firmly for and call for the restoration of the Pledge and of the National Motto!