Alonzo Fyfe

While preparing for work this morning I contemplated a picture I saw yesterday of the motto "In God We Trust" posted in a public school. And I grew angry.

I imagined being asked, "Do you object because you find the sign offensive?"

I answered, "If the only objection one can come up with is that he or she finds a message offensive, then my advice to that person is, 'Deal with it.' The right to express an opinion trumps the right not to be offended -- indeed, there is no such right. And if you want to express the contrary opinion, I will champion your right to express it over anybody else's claim that they must never be offended.

"But here is a sign that effectively states, 'If you trust in God you are welcome here -- you are a part of the 'we' group. If not, then your presence here is at best tolerated -- you are a part of the 'they' group.' It is a message placed there by the government, so it is the government telling me, 'We are dividing the citizenry of this country into two classes; first-class citizens who trust in God and who are welcome here; and second-class citizens who do not trust in God who are at best merely tolerated here.'

"I am not merely offended by this message, I am wronged by it. I have a RIGHT to equal citizenship. I have a RIGHT that the government not post signs that my Christian neighbor is more welcome in this country than I. And when the government posts signs that those who trust in God are 'we' -- and those who do not are 'they' -- it violates more than my sensibilities. It violates my rights."

To those who say that our rights come from God, I answer, "It's fine that you believe that. I disagree, I think that our rights come from being human. But this debate is irrelevant. Because it is one thing to say that our rights come from God, and quite another to say that our rights depend on believing in God -- that only those who believe in God have rights. Because even if our rights do come from God, they include my right to equal status in the eyes of the government. If our rights do come from God, then this sign not only wrongs me, it would also offend God, if He were around to see it."

[ September 05, 2002: Message edited by: Alonzo Fyfe ]</p>

Skid

Well said, Alonzo.

I am troubled by the "God Bless America" signs in my child's *public* school -- it has always implied an "us versus them" message to me.

I'm sure many Christians would counter your argument with the assertion that "In God We Trust" doesn't necessarily mean the christian god.

I don't buy it.

Alonzo Fyfe

Please note, nowhere do I make the statement that the God in the motto is the Christian god. The point, even if true (which it is not) would still remain irrelevant.

Ab_Normal

Alonzo:
<img src="graemlins/notworthy.gif" border="0" alt="[Not Worthy]" /> <img src="graemlins/notworthy.gif" border="0" alt="[Not Worthy]" /> <img src="graemlins/notworthy.gif" border="0" alt="[Not Worthy]" />

Thank you! Once again, you have said it much better than I ever could.

Alonzo Fyfe

Any interest in replicating this essay for the purpose of putting it on the desk of some elected official, school employee, or student within an afflicted school system is hereby granted.

chrislee

Well said, Alonzo. It excludes us. And I resent
this. I don't know what next Wednesday (Sept 11)
is going to be like, but I suspect that once
again we will be excluded from the grief and
closure as we were last year because that too,
will be linked to belief in the God of somebody else's religion.

Buffman

<a href="http://members.tripod.com/~candst/pledge1.htm" target="_blank">http://members.tripod.com/~candst/pledge1.htm</a>

Just beyond the Bellamy entry are some interesting views which support the "WE" and "THEY" divisiveness caused by the Eisenhower administration changes.

Perchance

Last year I horrified my students because I didn't cancel class for the National Day of Prayer. We were not required to cancel class. Several other teachers and TA's said they intended to, though, and so perhaps my students thought that all classes were being cancelled.

I didn't understand the point. I told my students they could certainly still join in the large prayer ceremony that the university where I teach held, but I would not be cancelling class for prayer (the ceremony ended an hour before the class, anyway).

I remember them staring at me, and my staring back, and, probably, neither of us understanding the other's position. For that matter, I got horrified looks from other people when they asked if I'd prayed that day and I said, "No."

I didn't out myself as an agnostic because they didn't ask and I didn't see the point. However, that intense religious devotion- and exclusion- that sprang up in the wake of the attacks and seemed to turn inward, to exclude non-theists, made me angry. I couldn't understand how people could turn for comfort to religion when it was religion (in my view) that had caused the death, pain, and suffering.

It was one of the things that led to me getting on the Internet as part of an effort to research religion, and eventually led me to the SecWeb. So in a way I suppose I should be grateful. But I can't forget those blank or horrified looks, as if I were some kind of alien.

I'm not looking forward to this anniversary. And I hope that, if someone asks me why I'm not praying, I can find the courage to answer honestly.

Thank you for that essay, Alonzo. It expresses the point very well, and neatly destroys the arguments about, "Well, you're just getting offended for no reason."

-Perchance.

abe smith

ummmm. Just like to remind us that here in the US/A, our rights DO NOT come from "gahd"; and our temporary CEO's opinion about that is incorrect. As citizens of the US/A, our rights here come from MAN-MADE (prescriptive) verbal, overt, written-down law(s); w/ (remember) are subject to revision & change. With up-to 243 or so various "gahds" at play being shot-off into the human crowds like buckshot or sulphuric acid splots, it's a damn lucky thing for us that we are governed under specific written-down & interpretable-by-fallible-humans laws; and not by the personal whims of them (including the President of the US)
who presume to assert that THEY alone speak for "gahd". Arrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh! Humankind have tried bunches of that "gahd/gahds" stuff and have been the worse for it century after century. When someone of your fellow humanbeings waves that "gahd" stuff at you, napalm it.

atheist_in_foxhole

Did you see that congressional meeting in NYC this morning? It was dripping with gawd talk. They had a prayer, Cheney spoke about "divine help," the choir sang gawd bless America (twice!), and the idiotic phrase "gawd bless America" was uttered at least fifty times by the others who spoke. It was nauseating.