Secular Gov't Opinions - Page 2

Dictionary.com states...
sec·u·lar (s k y -l r) adj.
1.Worldly rather than spiritual. 2.Not specifically relating to religion or to a religious body: secular music. 3. Relating to or advocating secularism. 4. Not bound by monastic restrictions, especially not belonging to a religious order. Used of the clergy. 5. Occurring or observed once in an age or century. 6. Lasting from century to century.

In political context, and within this thread, it involves the removal of Christian mottos and references from the US government, '...under God' from our Pledge, returning the national motto to 'E Pluribus Unum', and removal of religious monuments from government property for example. It does not mean to remove the Xian religion from America, as some have stated here and in other threads.
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To get back on topic, many US citizens today, including many Christians, feel that to include these references alienates many people. These references have come to basically mean, 'If you are not Christian, you do not belong in this country, you are not one of us'.

Also, whatever the religious denominations and beliefs of our Founding Fathers, the fact that they intended a totally secular government cannot be denied, as evidenced by their own hand in letters, speeches, and other documents, including the Constitution. As wise as those grand gentlemen were, they could not have guessed the rise of one segment of our citizenry to the heights of the political power they have achieved, and the rapine of our Constitution that those persons have committed, to further their own political agenda. The arguments proposed by that minority who impose their religious idioms into politics, are weak at best, and are overshadowed by the shear weight of conflicting evidence that clearly shows they are in the wrong.

And yes, I do make the claims of a minority. The Coinage Act of 1863, that began the placement of 'I God We Trust' on our monies, passed by a slim majority in congress. It was not voted on by the citizens, but by a group of men interested in keeping their employment, and bowing to the pressure of one of the earliest special interest groups. Sound familiar? It happens constantly today. Made up of 11 Protestant denominations, this group mounted a campaign to add references to God, to the U.S. Constitution, and other federal documents. This goes against the very ideals set by our Founders, who by that time had all passed on, and could not defend their positions.

Our National Motto...

Our original motto, the one our Founders put in place themselves, was 'E Pluribus Unum', which in Latin means 'One from many" or "One from many parts." It simply, and very effectively, refers to the welding of a single federal entity from a group of individual political units, the original colonies. This motto was officially recognized when Congress accepted our first Seal, developed by Secretary of Congress Thomson, on June 10th 1782. It consisted of an eagle with a heart-shaped shield, holding arrows and an olive branch in its claws. The motto "E Pluribus Unum" appeared on a scroll held within its beak. This official Seal was first used on our coins in 1795.

As I stated above in my previous reply, the special interest lobby group, led by Rev. M.R. Watkinson of Ridleyville PA, wrote then Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase in 1861 to promote their concepts, utilizing a huge letter writting campian. Rev Watkinson suggested the words "God, Liberty, Law." Chase, bowing to the pressures of that group, instructed the Director of the Mint, James Pollock, to develop a suitable motto to be used on Union coins used during the Civil War. Out of the several submissions, Salmon chose 'In God We Trust'. In the Coinage Act of 1863, the congress officially passed the resolution changing the previous legend, set in place by our Founders, and which had graced our coins for 68 years.

In 1956, the nation was suffering through the height of the Cold War, and McCarthyism was rampant. During that year, in an endeavor to differentiate between European communism, which promoted atheism, and western capitalistic democracies, which were partially Christian, the 84th Congress passed a joint resolution to change our national motto to the one 'gracing' our coinage. On July 30th 1956, the President signed the resolution into law, making it official and changing a National Motto that stood for some 167 years. The new motto was then utilized on paper money for the first time in 1957, and added to all currency in 1966.

The Pledge of Allegiance...
[quote "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." [/quote]
This is the original Pledge, as created by Baptist Minister Francis Bellamy in August of 1892. It was first published in ' Youth's Companion', a popular children's magazine of the time, in 1892 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the Americas. He had considered placing the word "equality" in the pledge, but realizing many of his contemporaries though of only equality for adult white males, as opposed to women and blacks, he decided to omit that phrase. Between 1924 and 1953, after some minor changes, the Pledge was as follows...

quote:

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"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands; one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

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In 1953, once again the height of tension between the two superpowers of the world, the Knights of Columbus, a Roman Catholic men's group, began a campaign to add 'under God' to our Pledge. In this capacity, the KoC was acting as a special interest group, just as that Protestant collaboration the century before. A reported 15 resolutions were initiated in Congress during that year in support of the addition. However, the person who can perhaps be accredited for providing the political impetus for that change, was Reverend George Docherty. In his February 7th 1954 sermon, attended by the national press corps and President Eisenhower, he stated: 'Apart from the mention of the phrase 'the United States of America,' it could be the pledge of any republic. In fact, I could hear little Muscovites repeat a similar pledge to their hammer-and-sickle flag in Moscow." This provided the steam for the KoC agenda, and on June 8th 1954, it was passed in a joint resolution, and signed into law by President Eisenhower on June 14th. President Eisenhower said at the time: "From this day forward, the millions of our schoolchildren will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty." Bellamy's granddaughter said of that change, '...he (Francis Bellamy) also would have resented this second change."
Due to the surge of national patriotism during the turbulent 1950's, many people today associate Atheism with Communism, and consider any who do not believe or worship to be unpatriotic and un-American. Hence the official religious references added to our mottos and government in general, as Russian communism did in fact promote Atheism, and America was attempting to distance ourselves from that regime. The two are not intertwined. Communism is a political agenda; Atheism is a religious belief, or disbelief in this case. Although there are many Atheist and Humanists in our population today, indeed among our very legislators, most will not admit to this due to that atmosphere of extreme prejudice created during the McCarthyism era of this nation. One has only to witness the knee-jerk response of 'Communist!' made by those who oppose the secularization of American government to be aware of that sentiment.