The new U.S. Currency - How to "de-God" your cold hard cash
"In God We Trust" was put on all paper currency by an Act of Congress in 1955; the phrase was declared the national motto by an Act of Congress in 1956 and first appeared on paper currency in 1957.
In the mid-1950s, the "red scare" had Congress and President Eisenhower acting in paranoid fits of illegal and unconstitutional activity. The FBI, under the militant J. Edgar Hoover, engaged in illegal spying campaigns against Americans. Kind of like the unconstitutional and illegal activities of the Bush administration today! Neat!
Adding "In God We Trust" to the US currency was an act of religious and political propaganda, allegedly to counter the threat of "godless communism." Boooo!
As Mitchell Kahle states, "For more than 10 years, I have spent only Godless dollars. Using a red pen or stamp, I mark a circle and slash over the word 'God' (as pictured above) on every bill that passes my way. When I make a withdrawal from the bank ATM, I immediately 'de-God' each of the crisp new $20s. When I spend the $20s, and receive $1s, $5s, or $10s in change, I 'de-God' each bill before passing it along. No merchant or business has ever refused to accept this 'godless' money."
So what does "In God We Trust" actually mean? Based on the facts, it means only that the government continues to maintain superstitious practices and paranoid acts that should have died along with McCarthyism. It means that the government does not actually support religious freedom. It means that the government continues to establish that monotheism, belief in one "Almighty God," is the de facto official religion of the United States. Via Boing Boing