I am a practicing Christian, so the phrase printed on the bill was never a problem for me. Neither was the Pledge of Allegiance, which states that America is "one nation under God", yet, America is truly far from a nation practicing one single religion. America prides its self upon its many forms of freedoms, religious freedom being one of them. Because of this, America is a very diverse country, with its citizens and residents practicing many different religions, or none at all. This is exactly what some people come to America for: acting upon ones belief without consequence.
When these religious phrases are found throughout American culture, permanently plastered on symbols of the USA, it takes away some of the freedoms of the Americans who disagree, and in my opinion, this restriction is unfair. The people of America shouldn't have to be represented as something that they are not.
It could be assumed from the writing in the top right corner that the bill at some point was in Houston, Texas, and it ended up in my wallet in Chicago, Illinois. This could mean that this bill has been passed along for some while with the writing on it. In my opinion, I think that this shows that people have accepted a set religion in America, for this bill continued to be distributed. This message written on the bill could be viewed as to the country in the form of defacing currency as a sacred object of the nation. I wonder if somebody had written a note of disagreement, what would be the reaction? Is this fair?
Isabelle, I found this post to be very well written and interesting because I have never really put much though into the pledge of allegiance. To be honest, I've never even noticed that our money says "In God We Trust" on it. My lack of observation skills aside, I don't agree that because this bill traveled from Houston to Texas, it means that people have accepted a set religion. Even though I'm not Christian, I still would've spent this bill without pause. Also, I have come across money with other things written on it, sometimes even including profanity. Even though I may not agree with certain things written on a bill, it doesn't mean I'm necessarily going to write something in response or refuse to use it. Also, I think that what is written on the bill could apply to more than one religion. Therefore, I don't totally agree that since this bill has traveled that far that everyone that has come into contact with it was a practicing Christan or totally agreed with what was written.
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