http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521From Blair Scott
This is neck and neck and it looks like the Christians are rallying their troops to hammer the poll, so we might as well hammer back ? let your ?troops? know about this and get it back up at least to 50/50 where it was earlier today. Is the phrase ?In God We Trust? on US currency a violation of the Establishment Clause? The phrase was put on coinage (the penny) as early as 1901, but it was not put on any paper currency until McCarthyism and the 50?s when ?E Pluribus Unum? was replaced.Take the poll: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521
I still cross off IGWT when I get the chance. It’s the patriotic (and perfectly legal) thing to do!
I thought that intentionally altering currency in any way was a crime.
Actually the 1864 two-cent piece that first carried the “In gawd we trust” branding. from there it slowly metastasized onto other coinage. Finally infecting the last piece without it (the one-cent piece, or penny)in 1909.
oh… but you’re right about the greenback.
Firee, is is only illegal to deface currency in an attempt to destroy it, or to make it appear to be worth more or less. Drawing a zero next to the five to make fifty is illegal, as is shredding the money or burning it.
Crossing out IGWT is legal and ethical.
What I like to do is cross out IGWT, and pay in one dollar bills at tourist traps (or at the local fair). That way I can maximize the number of crossed out bills that get spread around the community when vendors make change for larger bills.
I collect coins and old currency and really love my pre-1957 dollar bills and pre-1864 coins without In God We Trust. I have 2 20th century coins without IGWT: a $20 gold coin from the one year they made them without it (1908 if I remember right) and a $1 error coin without it (year 2007 if I remember right). One of my coin dealers is all for the separation of church and state but is an Evangelical Protestant and thus NOT for the separation of God and Country and favors IGWT on money. Go figure. . .
I would love to own a pre-IGWT bill myself. How does one find one of these?
I enjoy crossing out the IGWT so much that I almost wish they put an artist’s depiction of the xian gawd on greenbacks too. Oh what fun we could have!
Dagny3:
They are not that hard to find, any local shop that sells coins should have some. The 1935 (pre-IGWT) Silver Certificate is especially common and inexpensive.
Sam moore jr:
You lucky rascal… none of my local coin shops can manage to hold on to one of the Washington $1’s (without IGWT), long enough for me to pick it up. They are very popular… and I am jealous.
I once got into a debate over this on Beliefnet and to prove my point, I linked to The Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s website – where it states just what Dave said.
The Beliefnet moderator(a theist, of course) was so nervous about this info getting out that she deleted the post.
I posted on this poll too. What we really need is PZ, the master of poll crashing.
Comment from: Dagny3
I would love to own a pre-IGWT bill myself. How does one find one of these?
Most coin and stamp collector shops offer paper currency too. I’m sure there are lots of these on Ebay.
But I’ve always wanted AA to sell them. We can buy them in bulk and frame them nicely and sell them like that, or all by themselves. It would help the group.
Joe Zamecki
Austin, TX
I carry a red marker and put a circle with a slash thru it over the word god. The red ink helps to make it stand out.
Note that this particular poll is approaching its 3rd anniversary. The article it is attached to is Newdow vs. Congress, Nov. 2005.
And yes, Myers’ minions have recently been notified of its continued existence.
Let the red ink flow, militant American atheists! Lift your Sharpies(tm) high!
I can’t believe a bunch of fucking dimwits would get so upset over removing the stupid logo from our money. If it upsets some people, and it *CAN* have a religious inference, then EVERYONE should support removing it from the money. To not be in support of removing the money is to not be objective and not care about the direction of this country. You can take that to the bank. I’ll debate anyone on that and I’ll kick your ass.
OT, jesusandmo.net is at it again (still).
I wanted to draw people’s attention to a list of Hitler quotes provided in the comments to the current cartoon.
http://www.jesusandmo.net/2008/08/13/novel/
It is a nice collection of evidence against that old theist argument that Hitler and his Nazi party were atheists.
If the past is any indication, it won’t be long before I get to excerpt some part of it. I particularly liked this one:
“We were convinced that the people need and require this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out.”
- Adolf Hitler, Speech in Berlin, October 24, 1933
Hilarious evolution cartoon on vadlo!
or http://www.vadlo.com/Cartoons/Life_in_Research_Cartoon_1139.html
My wife works at a bank and gets the pre-IGWT bills all the time. We have quite the collection going now. I’ve even got a 1928 red ink $2 that’s in pretty good, but circulated, condition. So far we’ve got a 1935 $1, 1928 $2 and a 1934 $10. We HAD a 1934 $50 and a 1950 $20 but had to cash those in due to being broke at the time (but those two are still sitting in her drawer at work and we’ll be getting them back soon).
The religious right loves the idea of mixing the god idol with the money idol so that they can privately worship both simultaneously and or publicly appear to be worshiping the god idol while actually worshiping the money idol.
Once I found this well-marked-up bill here in NYC (click on link below, and click on the photo to expand it to full size). In a random purchase, too, not when working with freethought organizations.
The Lloyd Thoren quote shows this was probably done by an American Atheists member; Thoren was an AA activist from the seventes and early eighties.
http://foody.org/dollar.jpg
I’m so glad I read this post! I took all of the money out of my billfold and crossed out “In God We Trust” on every bill. I will take the hint about carrying around a red pen to mark the bills in the future. I read this blog every day to remind myself that I am not alone in the things I believe and don’t believe.
I am amazed at how much fervor this topic creates amongst the atheist community. It is our currency not a mandate that states you have to believe in God (of the Bible). I highly doubt that seeing the words “In God We Trust” on a dollar bill ever converted someone to Christianity.
pr
OK. Then lets print “In Science We Trust” on the bills instead.
I alter my bills to “In Dog We Trust,” although I doubt most people look at the back of paper currency anyway.
What
Are you for using tax dollars to accomplish this?
I’m afraid Science can’t cure all our problems on this planet so don’t think it very practical…
PR,
Maybe not, I would bet my left testicle that science has successfully achieved more cures than non-science.
And therefore, science is more worthy of such recognition than a God that doesn’t exist.
I still resent having to “trust” in somebody’s bullshit god to spend my hard earned money, so I cross it out whenever I remember to.
Atheon
How do you (science) explain a man who turns from homosexuality to a life of heterosexuality in which he marries and has kids? How would you explain a baseball player who turns from a life of drugs to one who honors God thru his testimony and play on the field?
There are things (mysteries) that can’t be explained – miracles happen all the time… there is only one answer my friend – God, His Son and the Holy Spirit!
Ahhhhhhhh. The old ,’Ifn I doesn’t understand it, goddidit’, argument.
I’m so impressed; guess I’ll have to accept that I’m a pathetic sinner and that god died for my sins, or actually, his human part died while his son part was eternally watching and controlling the events with his father part within him, somewhere outside of time and space wrapped in a holy spirit who (can a spirit be a who?)doesn’t come out much cause two parts of him are doing the job quite well and have been doing the job since before time, when humans did not exist and they, I mean he, was in need of a little company so he created the planet and two people in a garden with whom he could walk and talk and keep in the dark about the bad shit until a biped, or perhaps quadruped, snake tricked the gullible female into eating a fruit from the afore mentioned tree and realizing she was naked convinced the male to do likewise resulting in the complete and utter demise of mankind which has lasted for about 6000 years when, about 2000 years ago, god died for all human sins but they, I mean he, are/is still sinners and have to be born again if they want to get into a realm of eternal bliss as servants for the threegod. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
PR
You do understand that our government pays for the printing of currency right? So that makes your question retarded right? For more reasons than I care to examine.
What
I was referring to the extra 4 letters that it would take to do so chief… as well as retroactively doing so…
Science has the best record so far in regards to fixing problems. What would you suggest instead? If you’re thinking (no evidence of that so far) prayer, you might as well do nothing.
Oh wait, that’s the same thing… (ellipses are such fun…)