Should the government attempt to reinforce the Christian faith by using such symbols and "In God We Trust."
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shammers avoiding the holidays
ANSWERS: 4
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"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..."
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That would violate the concept of the division of Church and State.
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The problem here is the term "reinforce." The Constitution prohibits the government from "establishing" a religion and it prevents the government from abridging the "free exercise" of religion. Although this does not mean there has to be a "separation of church and state," the establishment clause can certainly be violated if the government unduly promotes one religion over others. The term "in god we trust" does not promote Christianity. At most it promotes religions that have a god over those that do not. Of course, in reality it does not promote anything. There is a difference between acknowledging the beliefs of citizens and promoting religion. If the government decided to give money to Christian organizations because they are Christian organizations, and not give money to other religions, that would be promoting. In fact, I would even agree that placing the phrase "in Jesus we trust" would be promoting.
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I think that the term "In God We Trust" does not really reinforce the Christian faith any more than it does Islam or Judaism. Some of the founding fathers were Christian, but most were Deist. This statement is a reflection of their belief in a Creator that gave all people certain unalienable rights. These rights form the very foundation of all our laws and are the basis of our freedom. The argument that we all have certain rights weakens when you remove the idea of a Higher Power. Then all you have is some men telling others what they can do and others what they can't. Then, inevitably, the axiom "Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely" will always ring true, and freedom perish. I think the founding fathers knew this and were therefore careful to make this the basis of our laws. (of course they weren't to specific, saying "Jesus" or "Allah" for fear of religious oppression of the state) While I respect the atheist and humanist standpoints as such, they put us all in grave danger by trying to remove this foundational concept.
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