To the editor:

While listening to a radio news report on the effort to ban same-sex marriage in Kansas, I heard one of the ban’s supporters argue that the words “In God We Trust” on our money validates his cause.

If God’s fiery hand comes down from the sky, as it did so convincingly in “The Ten Commandments,” to emblazon that phrase on our bills and coins, I might accept this argument. But according to facts provided by the U.S. Treasury, those words were the work of human hands, intentions and priorities. Moreover, they came about in response to specific historical, cultural and social conditions, which are subject to change.

Some might think that because we use money on a daily basis, we buy into everything it represents, and everything that is represented on it. Not so. As an example, think about the faces that appear on our money. Do we expect everyone who uses a 50-cent piece to respect JFK? Does Andrew Jackson’s face on the $20 make him into a swell guy? If those who want Ronald Reagan to replace FDR on the dime (God forbid!) get their way, does that mean FDR doesn’t matter anymore?

“In God We Trust,” like everything else connected with money, is about power and politics, much of it corrupt. Those who use the phrase to support their agendas are revealing their desire for unquestioned political power, and in this case, power over the lives of other human beings.

Ray Pence,

Lawrence