Have a look at the title of this post. Would you like to see this phrase engraved on the walls of public schools, other government buildings, and other such places? The US House is about to vote on a bill that would make that happen.
It is not much of a bill. It’s more like an unfunded mandate. But it’s not even much of a mandate. Really, it’s just a resolution, the sort of generally meaningless tings Congress passes all the time when has nothing important to do (which seems to be the case now, for some reason) and it says:
Resolved by the House of Representative (the Senate concurring), That congress reaffirms “In God We Trust” as the official motto of the United States and supports and encourages the public display of the national motto in all public buildings, public schools, and other government institutions.
The measure is sponsored by Randy Forbes of Virginia and has over 60 others signed on including a handful of Red Dogs. There is also a fair amount of resistance to the bill, and you can read a committee report stating objections here (pdf).
Politico has more.
Have you read the breakthrough novel of the year? When you are done with that, try:
or Paperback
*Please note:
Links to books and other items on this page and elsewhere on Greg Ladens' blog may send you to Amazon, where I am a registered affiliate. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, which helps to fund this site.
I believe a secular group has a webpage where you just type in your zip code, name, and address, and it sends a message to your congressman telling him to vote against this… Thing.
Anywho, if I find the link, I’ll post it.
Found it.
http://action.americanhumanist.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8583
Thanks for the link!
How the heck could they even consider that ? Anyone with two braincells to rub together can see that’s unconstitutional.
I sent the letter to my congressman (Peter DeFazio, D-OR) but I doubt he needs any prodding.
To many in this country, freedom of religion means freedom to be any kind of Christian you want.
I always thought that the motto of the US was E pluribus unum.
(From many, one – for those who don’t read Latin)
That’s what I taught my Latin students, anyway.
It strikes me as a much more fitting motto for this country,
but I suppose that it sounds too pro-immigration for the GOTP.
Whaddya mean “we”?!?
Rachel Maddow’s show tonight (November 1) covered this in her opening segment. It passed with only 9 no votes (8 Democrats and 1 Republican). Rachel’s point was to emphasize the rule change that Boehner put through this year that there wouldn’t be any of these honorary bills this session. They were going to focus like a laser on jobs jobs jobs jobs and more jobs. The House even made sure that they wouldn’t honor the Seal team that killed Osama bin Laden. I just saw it as a big fuck you to atheists. Thanks a lot, assholes. I don’t like you, either.
The vote: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll816.xml