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How to make an atheistic statement seen by thousands in America, using only a red pen

spacemonkey

Pneumatic Spiritualist
Anyone who says that people don't use cash, how can you explain the $5000 - $10000 CASH deposits I make EVERYDAY as a restraunt manager?
 

Bishka

Veteran Member
Anyone who says that people don't use cash, how can you explain the $5000 - $10000 CASH deposits I make EVERYDAY as a restraunt manager?
You are a restaurant manager, that's why. I'm still in college, you rarely use cash in college, maybe for laundry and that is about it. Credit/Debit cards and cheques are much easier to carry around and ten time more convienient.
 

SoyLeche

meh...
It would be interesting to see the difference between purchases made with cash and those without. I would be willing to bet that there are a LOT more purchases these days without, but I could be wrong.
 

michel

Administrator Emeritus
Staff member
SoyLeche said:
It would be interesting to see the difference between purchases made with cash and those without. I would be willing to bet that there are a LOT more purchases these days without, but I could be wrong.
Cash ? what is that ?............................oh, yes, I remember..no, don't use that.

How to make an atheistic statement seen by thousands in America, using only a red pen would be impossible in England; as far as I can remember there is no reference to God on any bank note or coin. Now there is no law against cleaning coins, although it did used to be illegal to deface them (thereby defacing an image of the Queen); there is no law against that any more; hey, she doesn't mind.......Knockout
 

joeboonda

Well-Known Member
Our country was founded because people wanted to worship God how they chose, it was founded on freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. The founding fathers acknowledged that all men were CREATED equally, and most all believed in God. God and the Bible is part of our countries heritage, I think it is a huge mistake to turn our backs on the God who is our helper. I recognize the rights of people to worship or not worship, believe or not believe in any way, in any thing they wish, but I believe we should leave God on our currency and our pledge of allegiance, you don't have to believe in him or say 'under God' if you don't want to, but most of us do believe and do want to. Most people believe in some sort of God (or gods or goddess), some are not sure, and some just do not believe. We do not force anyone to believe, we just say our country and its laws were founded on Godly principles. I still do not understand how anyone could not believe in God, its, well, unbelievable. Just my thoughts, ya don't have to agree. Peace.
 

mr.guy

crapsack
joeboonda said:
I still do not understand how anyone could not believe in God, its, well, unbelievable.
...and if we continue on past the bearded lizard-woman we come to our final, most mind bending attraction: the "man-o-no-god"! Amaze yourself at his arguments for a godless, humanistic society! Be astounded at his insistance for freethought! But for the faint of heart beware and turn away when his forked tongue snaps out and..."
 

Fatmop

Active Member
Our country was founded because people wanted to worship God how they chose, it was founded on freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. The founding fathers acknowledged that all men were CREATED equally, and most all believed in God.
Most all believed in some sort of god or other, yes. However, as you may already know, most were deists. Also, your premise says 'freedom of religion.' How is it promoting freedom of religion to put IN GOD WE TRUST on the bills? Many Americans believe in Allah; many believe in Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu; some harbor pagan beliefs, and many more hold almost none. 'God' implies only one, and we all know who that one is... that's not really promoting freedom of religion at all, and it is a very narrowminded argument to say that America was founded by Christians, therefore we should all acknowledge ourselves as a Christian nation.

God and the Bible is part of our countries heritage, I think it is a huge mistake to turn our backs on the God who is our helper.
Yes, it is a part of our country's heritage. So is the systematic slaughter of Indians; shall we put "We killed a whole lot of innocent people who were technically here first" on the dollar bill?

I recognize the rights of people to worship or not worship, believe or not believe in any way, in any thing they wish, but I believe we should leave God on our currency and our pledge of allegiance, you don't have to believe in him or say 'under God' if you don't want to, but most of us do believe and do want to.
America is not a 'majority rules' system. We are a nation based on freedom, equality, and liberty. Simply saying that the majority of people believe in something, therefore it goes, is an endorsement of quite a few less-than-ethical occurrences throughout history... slavery is among them, as was the Holocaust.
The pledge states "One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." That is specifically exclusive to me and to all atheists and agnostics and polytheists living in America. I am as much a patriot as any Christian, and I am just as much a part of this One Nation as those who believe in God. Telling me to go suck my thumb while the rest of America does things their way is simply wrongheaded.

Most people believe in some sort of God (or gods or goddess), some are not sure, and some just do not believe. We do not force anyone to believe, we just say our country and its laws were founded on Godly principles.
Name these principles. Name them. Then tell me how they're 'godly' and could not have come about as a result of reasoning on the part of human beings.

I still do not understand how anyone could not believe in God, its, well, unbelievable. Just my thoughts, ya don't have to agree.
Then you are on the right forum. Open your mind and listen to what atheists have to say. Be critical of your own religion if you want to understand our point of view.
 

Fatmop

Active Member
Whoa. I'm sorry, no need to get all up in arms.
Sure there is. Both you and Aqualung made the point that since you don't use cash, cash must not be a major form of currency anymore (or must be second to plastic). You may not have meant to make it, which is understandable, but that's what it looks like to me.
 

Aqualung

Tasty
Fatmop said:
"Got to college?" AHA! If you're still in college, then yeah, it's safe to assume you don't use cash. However, you didn't really address my point: cash is used. A lot. Average life of a $1 bill is 18 months, and it is extremely fluid.
Yeah, cash is used a lot. But it's not used a lot by each individual person. It passes hands really quickly. That's why the life of the average $1 bill is so short. Nobody has it their hands for very long, so it goes through a lot of roughage. And I take that sentence about college back. I haven't used cash very much in my entire life.
 

Aqualung

Tasty
spacemonkey said:
Anyone who says that people don't use cash, how can you explain the $5000 - $10000 CASH deposits I make EVERYDAY as a restraunt manager?
Because every once in a while a person will go to a restaurant. There may be a lot of money in circulatino, but the people who use that cash are "circulating" too.
 

Fatmop

Active Member
It passes hands really quickly.
Yes, it does pass hands quickly. Very quickly. Was it you who was making the point that not very many people would see the cross-outs because people don't use cash anymore, or was that someone else?
 

Aqualung

Tasty
Fatmop said:
Yes, it does pass hands quickly. Very quickly. Was it you who was making the point that not very many people would see the cross-outs because people don't use cash anymore, or was that someone else?
That was me. It passes hands quickly because people don't have it for very long (duh.). People get cash to make a small purchase, make that purchase, and then don't have cash again til they need it. That's why it passes hands so quickly - because people don't use it much.
 

Bishka

Veteran Member
Fatmop said:
Sure there is. Both you and Aqualung made the point that since you don't use cash, cash must not be a major form of currency anymore (or must be second to plastic). You may not have meant to make it, which is understandable, but that's what it looks like to me.

I am sorry that it came across that way FatMop. I truly did not mean to insult you. What it looks like to you and what I said are actually two different things.

I know that we dont' have the same beliefs or non-beliefs, and I'm not saying everyone has to believe in God. I was just trying to make a point, I hardly know anyone that uses cash anymore. I know it is used a lot, but it doesn't come through my hands or anyone I know a lot.

I was only trying to point something out from my viewpoint.
 
joeboonda said:
Our country was founded because people wanted to worship God how they chose, it was founded on freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. The founding fathers acknowledged that all men were CREATED equally, and most all believed in God. God and the Bible is part of our countries heritage, I think it is a huge mistake to turn our backs on the God who is our helper. I recognize the rights of people to worship or not worship, believe or not believe in any way, in any thing they wish, but I believe we should leave God on our currency and our pledge of allegiance, you don't have to believe in him or say 'under God' if you don't want to, but most of us do believe and do want to. Most people believe in some sort of God (or gods or goddess), some are not sure, and some just do not believe. We do not force anyone to believe, we just say our country and its laws were founded on Godly principles. I still do not understand how anyone could not believe in God, its, well, unbelievable. Just my thoughts, ya don't have to agree. Peace.
OK, I am not going to agree. You can't have freedom of religion without freedom from religion. I can't figure out how anyone can seriously believe otherwise. Are you saying that everyone except atheists deserves to have their rights respected by the government? Maybe we should have mandatory loyalty oaths to God, and whoever doesn't take that oath would go to jail. We can also have mandatory taxes to fund any church we please. So atheists have to donate to churches whether they like it or not. That would be freedom of religion, too, at least by the standards of "freedom of religion, not freedom from religion."

Having "IN GOD WE TRUST" isn't just disrespecting atheists, by the way. It is disrespecting Hindus (polytheistic), Native American religious adherents, Buddhists, worshippers of female gods, and many Jews (who believe that God should not be written).

Why not just leave your slogans off the money that everyone uses? What purpose does the slogan serve? Back in the day, it united the country against the Soviet Union and fed the red scare. That day is gone.

There is one place in the Constitution where God is mentioned. "...the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names..."

It was to give a date. Two times, religion was alluded to. It was to restrict the governement from religious oaths and religious laws. What parts of the Constitution have Godly principles?
 

Bishka

Veteran Member
One question, when did it show up on our money? I personally think if the "Under God" was recent (being last 150 years), we need to take it off, but if it was on the original money, why not leave it there?
 

spacemonkey

Pneumatic Spiritualist
beckysoup61 said:
I agree with Apostate Abe. It doesn't show up at all in the constitution at all. One question, when did it show up on our money, btw? Sorry if I missed that part of the conversation. I think if the "Under God" was recent(being last 150 years), we need to take it off, but if it was on the original money, why not leave it there?
Someone earlier said the 50's and I belive that is correct
 

spacemonkey

Pneumatic Spiritualist
Actually, it says here http://www.ustreas.gov/education/fact-sheets/currency/in-god-we-trust.html
that "In God We Trust" first apeared on a 2 cent coin in 1864, apparently because the Secratary of Treasury started recieving letters like this one.

Dear Sir: You are about to submit your annual report to the Congress respecting the affairs of the national finances. One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form on our coins.

You are probably a Christian. What if our Republic were not shattered beyond reconstruction? Would not the antiquaries of succeeding centuries rightly reason from our past that we were a heathen nation? What I propose is that instead of the goddess of liberty we shall have next inside the 13 stars a ring inscribed with the words PERPETUAL UNION; within the ring the allseeing eye, crowned with a halo; beneath this eye the American flag, bearing in its field stars equal to the number of the States united; in the folds of the bars the words GOD, LIBERTY, LAW.

This would make a beautiful coin, to which no possible citizen could object. This would relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism. This would place us openly under the Divine protection we have personally claimed. From my hearth I have felt our national shame in disowning God as not the least of our present national disasters.

To you first I address a subject that must be agitated.
It seems it took an act of Congress in order to make the change.


 
Spacemonkey, thank you for that, though I now feel even more insulted than before.

Dear Sir: You are about to submit your annual report to the Congress respecting the affairs of the national finances. One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form on our coins.

You are probably a Christian. What if our Republic were not shattered beyond reconstruction? Would not the antiquaries of succeeding centuries rightly reason from our past that we were a heathen nation? What I propose is that instead of the goddess of liberty we shall have next inside the 13 stars a ring inscribed with the words PERPETUAL UNION; within the ring the allseeing eye, crowned with a halo; beneath this eye the American flag, bearing in its field stars equal to the number of the States united; in the folds of the bars the words GOD, LIBERTY, LAW.

This would make a beautiful coin, to which no possible citizen could object. This would relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism. This would place us openly under the Divine protection we have personally claimed. From my hearth I have felt our national shame in disowning God as not the least of our present national disasters.

To you first I address a subject that must be agitated.

The motto was the doing of the 19th century's Pat Robertson. Wonderful.
 

Green Gaia

Veteran Member
beckysoup61 said:
Interesting, a bit of history I did not know. I'm still slightly divided over this issue. Part of me wants to say take it off, this is a polyreligion(is that the right word?) country.....
Pluralistic would be the word to use if you're referring to many different religions found in our country. Secular would refer to the government and how our laws should be written and enforced.
 
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