Jan 13 2009
Under God, What a Terible Thing to Say
As the commentary’s rage on, one thing seems clear, you’ll find what you are looking for when “under God” or “In God We Trust” are discussed. If you think the phrases are an endorsement of religion, they could be, or just the recognition of a higher power, they can be, or an invasion of your sensibilities because you hate the church and on and on. Because one thinks it doesn’t make it so much further than the end of your nose, unless someone agrees but that doesn’t prove anything.
It seems odd to me that when virtually every survey on the subject of God is taken, up to ninety percent of Americans acknowledge that God exists. Doesn’t mean they go to church three times a week or stand on corners passing out tracks to find converts, it just means they have a sense that there is a higher power than themselves, “under God”. Some are Muslims, Christians aren’t the only ones who worship God, some are Jews, obviously Christians and many are just people who see God in the beauty of the earth around them or the blessings of their families and so on. So, if a large majority of our country acknowledges that they live “under God”, why should a vocal minority have the power to remove “under God” and “In God We Trust” from our landscape.
The words are nothing more than an acknowledgement. The constitution doesn’t say government can end practicing faith, it says our government can’t force us to worship in a particular way deemed acceptable by government. “But it offends me,” some say. Well it offends me that they want to remove the acknowledgement of the providence of God from my coins and my pledge, when I live in the country that has been blessed more than any other in history.
They have every right to disagree. I greatly respect that right. However, they should remember the irony that Christian sensibilities in our legal system give them that right because if they voiced their disrespect for God in places like Iran, they would be dead or in prison. One of Al Qaeda’s greatest gripes about our country, is that we allow people to say such things and our women to have a voice and the freedom to dress the way they choose.
So feel the way you do about it, but don’t be so insecure that you can’t stand to see it. And don’t quote Einstein to me. C. S. Lewis can match him point for point on the intelligence scale. He started where Einstein was but strongly investigated his disagreement to confirm he was right. Instead of finding a God who turned his back on him or no God at all, he found God loving him even while he had been an atheist and leading him to deep intellectual understanding of God, as well as a deep emotional relationship and commitment to Him. Such are the fruits of freedom.
