Archive for Thursday, March 22, 2007
Accountability
March 22, 2007
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To the editor:
The issue of whether or not to have inscriptions like "In God We Trust" on government currency has drawn much attention, but let us step back from the argument of church and state and consider the phrase itself.
"In God We Trust." To have this on our currency is to say that we trust in something higher than ourselves, namely God. For those who wish its inscription removed, I would ask them where we should put our trust and most importantly, to whom we are accountable.
Many people have said that the result of the November election was a wakeup call that the government, and namely the president, is still accountable to the American people. I would agree, but then we face the question: To whom are the people accountable? Themselves? Look at what happened in Nazi Germany. Hitler did atrocious things, but with the people behind him, inspired by their leader whom they elected. Perhaps we are accountable to the rest of the world, but what if the rest of the world had joined in on the call to exterminate this "inferior" race? Would it still be wrong? It would not have been if we as humans are only accountable to ourselves.
However, if we are accountable to something more than ourselves, and might does not make right, then it is imperative that we declare that it is in God, not ourselves, that we trust.
Isaac McPheeters,
Lawrence
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22 March 2007
at 4:15 a.m.
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just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…
Wow, Isaac, that's so insightful. Next time somebody robs a liquor store or a bank, all the clerks need to do is point to the little inscription of “In God We Trust,” and the robbers will almost certainly immediately surrender to the proper (and trusting in God) legal authorities.
I'll bet if all those $trillion we've dumped down that hole in Iraq had the inscription in Arabic, the war would have been over the first time Bush declared it to be.
22 March 2007
at 7:18 a.m.
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75x55 (Anonymous) says…
I'm more concerned about when they'll need to remove the word “Liberty” from our currency.
22 March 2007
at 7:24 a.m.
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just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…
“I'm more concerned about when they'll need to remove the word “Liberty” from our currency.”
BushCo will be printing it even larger on everything once they've finally removed any meaningful vestiges of real liberty.
22 March 2007
at 7:40 a.m.
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anxiousatheist (Clint Gentry) says…
I don't trust “god” at all, can I still use his money? Also, is “mcpheeters” a real name? It seems like the name of a puppet in a 70's childrens show.
22 March 2007
at 7:45 a.m.
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trinity (Anonymous) says…
anxious are you thinking of mr. mcfeeley? now that was a scarey name for a character in a children's tv show.
22 March 2007
at 8:05 a.m.
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BrianR (Anonymous) says…
In F-150 I trust.
22 March 2007
at 8:49 a.m.
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jafs (Anonymous) says…
The issue of church and state is more complex than the characterizations above.
While the founders were religious, they were almost certainly NOT fundamentalist Christians.
The concepts of religious freedom and not implementing a state religion point to a tolerant, diversity supporting perspective.
Just because some of us are concerned about the infiltration of right-wing religion into government, that doesn't make us “anti-God” or “atheist” or “far-left”.
Political debate seems to have degenerated into name-calling.
22 March 2007
at 8:59 a.m.
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Reality_Check (Anonymous) says…
Hitler believed in God and encouraged churchgoing by citizens. And, God has been used as the reason for a huge percentage of wars over time…and for terrorism.
So what's your point again?
22 March 2007
at 10:28 a.m.
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couranna1 (Anonymous) says…
BushCo is evil, Dick Cheney is evil, Condi Rice is evil, neocons are evil, America is evil, Karl rove is evil, a military is evil, Phill Kline is evil, the former KS BOE is evil–-generally anything right of center is evil. rt
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I am glad we agree on that (haha) I am definitely a liberal I also believe there is a god and that evil does exist such as your example above. However Mr Mcpheeters uses a dumb argument that because Hitler sucked we must believe in god You can believe deeply if you want or more like me that yeah a god exists he never wrote a book with a set of laws in it or told people to hate others. It is not a real important issue to me if it is on money or not I'll still spend it but my credit card does not have it on it Does that mean god don't like credit?
22 March 2007
at 10:57 a.m.
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Agnostick (Anonymous) says…
Do I *really* need a coin with a particular inscription jingling around in my pocket to remind me about God? I can't help but think that the “faithful” who desperately think they need this… don't really have much faith at all.
I'm not worried so much about the inscription itself, as much as how some of these things happen: Extremist political posturing.
Agnostick
agnostick@excite.com
http://www.uscentrist.org
22 March 2007
at 11:17 a.m.
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Jamesaust (Anonymous) says…
Yeah, prior to “popular sovereignty” the people were accountable to the monarch God placed over them.
The idea that Nazis did “bad things” because there was too much “people power” is certifiable.
22 March 2007
at 12:53 p.m.
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jcantspell (Anonymous) says…
I don't consider my self right or left.
I do believe in god.
And considering what we humans do with money.
I would like to think that god would not want anything to do with it.
But I can't read gods mined so we will just have to wait and see!
22 March 2007
at 1:01 p.m.
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KWCoyote (Anonymous) says…
Who is there to hold God accountable, if the critter exists? Every rotten thing in the universe that you don't like, that you call godless sin, etc, is something that happens or exists because God allowed it, and even made it happen. “God works all things after the counsel of his own will”–Ephesians, I think. God purportedly created the devil. So who is there to hold the lazy-bum drunken slacker god to account? I tried that trusting-God stuff several decades ago and found that it's useless because God's an indifferent slacker. As a French satirist once said (more or less), “God's reputation would be better if he did not exist.” Because if he does exist, the buck stops on HIS desk.
22 March 2007
at 3:44 p.m.
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Strontius (Anonymous) says…
I'm still not understanding why humans need to be “accountable” to something higher than themselves. It's pretty clear that those who believe in this accountability aren't any more moral than the rest of us, so I don't see what purpose such a thing serves to society overall.
I'm so tired of seeing people twist history to give justification to their ridiculous fairy tales about magical sky gods and messiahs. If you're religion can't stand on its own, then you have a bigger problem than people who want to level the playing field by removing public references that give special consideration to your particular deity.
22 March 2007
at 4:16 p.m.
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lefthanded (Anonymous) says…
I don't think there are nearly as many Christians in the US as some polls indicate, like the ones that say 80 or 90% of the US is Christian. I think the actual number of Christians is much lower, you know, the kind of Christian that truly follows Christ's example of humility and wisdom and has true love for people. Worse yet is the leadership of the Christian church in the US (all the denominations included) who lie, cheat, steal, and are in love with their position or power, hiding their weakness for fear of losing their position. Remember the big wig pastor who used to rip on homosexuality who recently got called out of the closet by the prostitute he fooled around with? The President of the US has clearly stated that he is not only a Christian but a faithful one, led by the Holy Spirit. What kind of example has he set? A bad one I think. When he's with Christian's he talks like one, when he's not with Christians or when it's not popular he doesn't bring it up. Christianity has done a terrible job representing Christ in America from it's beginnings and across the world in the 21 century. Shame on all of you Christians whom I describe, including me.
22 March 2007
at 5:37 p.m.
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jimincountry (Anonymous) says…
Liberals: Would your motto of “If it feels good, do it”?
22 March 2007
at 5:39 p.m.
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jimincountry (Anonymous) says…
Would it satify the liberal in you?
22 March 2007
at 5:59 p.m.
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lefthanded (Anonymous) says…
Right, I apologize for not being very clear. I should have said he's a politician and acting like one. Thanks.
22 March 2007
at 7:26 p.m.
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budwhysir (Anonymous) says…
HMMM
22 March 2007
at 11:22 p.m.
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Noturus (Anonymous) says…
What Mr. Pheeters forgets is that the Israelites committed genocide on the Canaanites, Amalakites, and others, on his god's orders. Belief in a god does not prevent genocide or other morally reprehensible behaviors. As an American and an atheist I hope that the phrase In God We Trust is removed from our currency.