In God We Trust?

In God we Trust, With the House's Help

The U.S. House recently passed a resolution reaffirming that "In God We Trust" is America's national motto. What's most astounding about this, after the fact that it was already the national motto (I honestly thought that was an urban legend, in the sam category as the belief that "God helps those who help themselves" was a Bible verse), is the proportion of "yea" votes. 396 votes in favor, 28 abstentions, and just 9 against. Those nine deserve a thank you, so I will mention them by name:

• Gary Ackerman, D-New York
  
• Justin Amash, R-Michigan
  
• Judy Chu, D-California
  
• Emanuel Cleaver, D-Missouri
  
• Mike Honda, D-California
  
• Hank Johnson, D-Georgia
  
• Jerrold Nadler, D-New York
  
• Bobby Scott, D-Virginia
  
• Pete Stark, D-California

I'm actually quite proud of my state, that we had two of the nine "nay" votes, even as I'm ashamed of my country for passing this thing.

( politics + religion behind the cut )

All of this is in addition to the obvious objections I felt on behalf of my atheist friends, and those religious friends who like to keep their religion out of their government (and vice versa).

So Congress: boo on you.

This entry was originally posted at http://fidesquaerens.dreamwidth.org/20220.html. Please comment there using OpenID.