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On August 24th, residents of Kissimmee, Florida will have a chance to vote to make the city motto: "In God We Trust."
Kissimmee Mayor Jim Swan told News 13's Stephanie Coueignoux, "This is a Christian community, and we all have strong Christian beliefs in this community."
It is unbelievable that there are no non-Christians in Kissimmee, Florida--and untrue. According to Sperling's, only 40% of the population in the city affiliates with a religion at all. And of that minority, there are a smattering of Jews and even fewer who practice Eastern religions. The majority of the religious are Christian. But what of the large majority who are not religious at all?
Even with a nonreligious majority, ordinance 2761 will likely pass, making Kissimmee, in spirit at least, a Christian city where Christians can point to the motto to prove it.
Originally, the idea of the new motto was supported by the city commission. But then its conservative promoter kept talking. Commissioner Art Otero, who initially proposed the idea, explained that the motto would exemplify American values, but not liberal values, "like gay marriage and abortion."
Suddenly the commission withdrew their support. Now the ordinance will go on the ballot, where, in effect, a majority vote can decide the religious beliefs of the city.
"In God we Trust" was made our national motto in the 1950's during the McCarthy Era, at about the same time "Under God" was inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance. Both were done to tell the Communists, and anyone who didn't fit into the dominant religion, that the United States is a Christian nation.
The Supreme Court has ruled several times that the phrase "In God we Trust" is not an establishment of religion and its purpose is secular. And yet, Christians, in their defense of it, always claim we are a Christian nation. And when non-Christians attempt to explain that our nation is religiously diverse, Christians then point to our motto as evidence against the idea. Their behavior belies the true character of the motto: to force Christianity on the American citizenry.
But in so doing, they do indeed secularize their god and their religion, creating a population, not steeped in Christianity, but desensitized to it.
Paraphrasing the immortal words of Princess Leia, the more conservative Christians tighten their grip, the more the country will slip through their fingers.
Comments
Is Kissimmee is danger from secular terrorists or something??? This makes no sense why it would even be part of the daily duties of city officials...don't they have better things to do than this? I lived there for 12 years and still work there, and you are right...there is not a religious dominance in the town at all and many different types of religion live there. There is a large Buddhist Temple there even! This is so petty...maybe a new mayor with a more educated head on his shoulders is in need???
And yet if there was a legitimate movement to change the motto to, “In Allah we trust,” or “In YHWH we trust,” these very same people would be apoplectic. A fifth-grade American history lesson would abolish this notion that we were ever a Christian nation, but that’s not the point. Christians, like the mayor, want it to be so, and that’s why they keep perpetuating the lie. They ignore the fact that the original religion in America was—what most Christians called paganism. It was the worship of the Great Spirit and the sacred Earth. Unfortunately, Christians did come from afar, fleeing religious persecution, and then persecuted the Native Americans because they didn’t worship the Christian God.
That’s the challenge with Christianity. It was created by a man who was, in most accounts, a megalomaniac, and he had to be right. He travelled the Mediterranean world trying to make converts of everyone he came in contact with and threatening anyone who disagreed with him.
Christians have continued his rampage.
Christians are determined that they will dominate this discussion, and while it’s annoying, it’s also dangerous. Their goal isn’t just to make the motto of Kissimmee “In God we trust,” their goal is to turn this country into their idea of an idyllic state (sound familiar?), and they’re doing so by trying wipe out anyone whom they disagree with.
If only there was a loving God. If for no other reason than to protect his reputation you’d think he’d step in and put a stop to all this nonsense.
I do believe that the statement is, "In God We Trust". It does not say, In Jesus We Trust. Are you saying that the word "God" only denotes Christianity?
www.examiner.com/x-25082-Jacksonville-Christian-Living-Examiner
Mrs. V
It doesn’t say “in Allah we trust,” “in YHWH we trust,” “in the Buddha we trust,” “in Zeus we trust.” Of course it’s the Christian God. The Christian God is the only God allowed to be mentioned in political public discourse. Every argument for any mention of God or acknowledgement of God within our political discourse is the Christian God. In fact, to assert that there is any other God is to risk violating the first commandment and therefore incur the ire of the Christians themselves.
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