Occasionally I peruse the right-wing blogosphere much like my internet friend, Roy Edroso. Tonight I happened upon Dennis Prager's pap about how the TV cameras would not show the official U.S. motto, "In God We Trust" behind President Obama during his SOTU speech because the "left-wing media" views it as an "anachronism." He then goes on about how the country was "founded to be a God-centered, God-based country with a nondenominational government. And that is what those chiseled words affirm."
"In God We Trust" did not appear on U.S. currency until the 1860s. It was not made a motto until 1956, and I daresay, it probably was not on the wall of Congress until that time. To mention this little peeve and then conflate it with the founding of the country is ludicrous. Some of the founding fathers were Christian, but most of the famous ones, Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin, were atheist or agnostic. The jury is still out on George Washington, as it could be argued, he may have been agnostic privately. They were the ones who made sure that "God" and "Christian" never appeared in the Constitution.
Prager's attempt to rewrite history is what is anachronistic. I should add that because "In God We Trust" is printed and chiseled on all of our cash money and most of us see some of that every day, most of us won't miss not seeing it over Biden's and Boehner's heads.
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