Agnostic.com

21 7

How can anyone seriously stand behind the motto "In God We Trust"?

Whenever I see "In God We Trust" emblazoned on things I just have to shake my head and think WTF people? And these days it isn't just our coins and bills, the religious and not-so-religious right are putting it everywhere.

But to the question - clearly the atheists and agnostics of the world are not behind that statement. But what about the religious - do they actually show any example that they "trust" their God? Is this "trust" manifest in any other way than using "god" as a justification for decision? And if they actually "trust" their god why do they spend so much time groveling to it in prayer, doubting it, questioning it, and generally spending much of their lives exhibiting anything other than trust in a god.

For sure there may be the occasional suicide bomber who psyches themselves into a self-destructive frenzy, but is it really trust or just mental delusion? Some people do some pretty insane and painful things to themselves, maybe even kill themselves without putting a deity in the picture so I don't think religion or trust in god is a necessary or sufficient condition for that kind of stuff.

Meanwhile everyday religious people devote a hell of a lot of time to trying to instigate things that they could instead just "trust" their god will take care of. If you're diagnosed with a potentially lethal virus why not just trust in god vs. try to force an outcome that you desire with the latest scientific treatments? I just do not believe any action like that is compatible with "In God We Trust". It's just a big huge lie and deep down no one really buys into unless they actually have some clinical mental malfunction.

prometheus 7 Oct 6
Share

Enjoy being online again!

Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.

Create your free account

21 comments

Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.

5

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

Before 1956, that actually meant something.

4

As well as the atheists and agnostics of the world, do not also forget that there are Buddhists, Animists, Pantheists, even some Deists and dozens more groups who do not hold with the idea of a single, all powerful god, as implied by that statement. It really is a statement of theist imperialism, and intolerance, intended to provoke and belittle anyone not willing to sign up for theocracy.

3

It should be corrected: "In Mammon We Trust"

3

I guess we trust god to fuck everybody's lives with all types of plagues, diseases, violence, crimes, disasters, etcetera.

3

We are a nation "Of, by and for the people." We are not a nation under any god. Our only motto should be: "E Pluribus Unum." And, any swearing in needs to be done on the Constitution--no holy books of any kind.

Our founders would be appalled by "In God We Trust." Our country was founded on the ideal of trusting the people to govern themselves. Sure, they thought only a select few were capable of casting the votes; but over time democracy grew as most of us realized that all citizens should have a voice in how they are governed. Of course, there are those who are doing their best to limit/suppress democracy--and we know who they are.

Democracy was too limited, but the founders were right in that it depends on well-informed, rational-thinking, voters. In this day, with so much disinformation available at the touch of a finger, it will be a challenge. And, not only that, we are fighting forces who denigrate education because the less educated a person is, the easier they are to manipulate and control.

Well said. Thanks to you-know-who we are now E Unum Pluribus (excuse my mangled Latin).

3

It's a old cold war era saying. We are past the cold war, so the say should go too.

3

"In God we trust"
It sounds like a primitive chant children would make in a cave, like "The bears won't find us in here"

2

My take on that is to keep it on currency as my perspective is is that money is the god that is trusted in. I like to use the motto facetiously when discussing it on currency with the religious. It's a hold over from my religion resentment days.

I like that since the only true God Americans worship is filthy lucre. Manna from the Fed.

2

I've never encountered a trustworthy god yet

Nice. I trust god about as far as I can throw him 😛

2

Nothing says we're a bunch of gullible fools quite like that motto. Atheists and agnostics of the world are not behind it, neither are most theists; it is only in 'Murika where it's plastered everywhere.

JimG Level 8 Oct 6, 2020
2

It’s a big joke. Nothing more

Sadly the "joke" is on us 😟

2

It bothers the hell out of me when I see this on police vehicles. Imagine when they show up and gather to pray before going after the suspect. This only happens if you are Dog the Bounty Hunter.

2

It seems that if a person truly believed there exists a perfectly powerful, wise, and loving creator/overseer it would be irrational not to trust it completely. So I suspect the untrusting attitude/behavior of many Christians suggests they really have doubts as to the existence of such a perfect being.

2

We are also supposed to be god fearing. Is it feasible to both trust and fear something at the same time ?

1

"In God we Trust, " all other cash.

1

Religion is induced mental illness. Dishonest language. Delusion = magical thinking. Incompetent lifestyle. Psychosis. Psychopathology of post mortem punishments/rewards. Crime against humanity 1st invented by shaMANs to rape women and brainwashing boys into murderous violence against neighboring tribes.... false spirituality has zero roots in climate, lunar/solar cycles or fertility instincts of ANY SPECIES.... the disease of creationism or cultism

1

Well put!

I’ve come to feel it’s a way of subordinating themselves to a deity, then assume they’re just one notch below that deity. And, that there’s a pecking order to life, for which others should ‘know’ when and who to subordinate themselves to…

I’m sure their delusional concept serves multiple functions. A way to stand back, not get involved, not help, nor strive to understand … not lift a finger, just claim ‘they’re trusting in god.’ Sure, they feel safe at the moment, and now - they don’t have to worry about anyone but themselves..

I also view it as code, or a ‘secret handshake’ of sorts. Espousing a willingness to pretend about life to that extent it makes you ‘one of the gang.’

And, as you eluded, anyone truly believing there’s some magical all-powerful entity looking after them or controlling the universe may simply be insane ~

Varn Level 8 Oct 6, 2020
1

'How can anyone seriously stand behind the motto "In God We Trust"?'

Easy.

Write "In God We Trust" on a wall. Walk around behind said wall. Stand, while being serious.

Very descriptive.

I was thinking if you made the letters big enough out of something opaque you could just stand behind them very seriously.

0

Gene Wilder said it best to Cleavon Little...

0

It’s written in our country’s greatest documents that there must be checks and balances & how imperative it is to maintain the divisional line between church and state. In order to persevere through any possible outcome in which are Improperly tilted by the skewed judgements That are deeply imbedded in every biased beliefs system to ever be practiced. Religion has the alpha and omega of all ultimatums, blindly believe or suffer, die, then burn forever in further suffrage. They fill the heads of the impressionable Adolescent youth(Hitler adopted that effective strategy too, remember?)
So then when these bible thumpers slither into members of the political hierarchy & obtain control, they can completely disregard the cornerstones in which this land was intended to respectfully abide for the better good of the masses. Annnd since major of said masses all, to one degree or another, fall right back into that ultimatum that’s scarred onto their skulls: Follow the spread of ‘gods glory’ & all that good news shit. And the ‘or else’ would be along the lines of, “If you don’t think god should be apart of our government practices and on the legal notes(cash) then you must hate gods glory and want to burn in hell.

Paraphrasing of course cause even with all this said, I too am biased and opinionated. At the end of the day, there is never a single moment in which we spend questioning our beliefs and ideas of truth, our certainties. Just think back to anytime someone told you, “You’re wrong.” Never do we instantly believe that we are in fact wrong, we don’t just say “Oh you’re right.”
It’s a instinctive defense, even if we do end up realizing our errors, that reaction of sticking to our truth, no matter how wobbly it is, our minds are reflexive in that means. We do not believe our beliefs to be just a belief, but cold hardened fact. Thus, if we all think this way, biased and stubbornness and religious nationalism will always be kerosine on the flame of this species. I digress....
Greed is the root of all evil and yet they put their god on it, idk if it’s to be ironic, idiotic, or some kind of “Rock beats Scissors” kind of logic. However with all the effort in what is to be believed or bought into, it doesn’t matter what the bill of rights says or what we think(lead to believe) the Amount of bills in our wallet say about our status and self worth. We’re playing basketball with flat balls. Our country’s in a incurable debt with our currency backed by nothing but the country’s live stock(ME &YOU, not the cows or it’s piss milk). That’s why we all have social security numbers, that’s your stock number bud. And you’re worth more dead than breathing(it’s exactly why I’m not an organ donor) Either way, our money is shit and worthless, a god damn charade one might say. In god we trust? In god we bust.

0

Same way they believe in " justice for all ", and " Faith over Fear " - signs that some central Fl church is distributing to many yards since the pandemic began ...

Write Comment
You can include a link to this post in your posts and comments by including the text q:540999
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.