U.S. Constitution - Amendment 1
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Religion has always been under attack. And of late, more attacks, and more attempts to remove all mention God in public. I DO NOT want my government to "establish" any religion. Even if it was to be the Christian faith, I don't want the government to dictate what religion we must practice, and make any "law" to do so.
And guess what. Since it's ratification in 1791, this government, OUR government, HAS NEVER made any LAW which has "established" a religion...any religion!
It is my general understanding, that to "establish" a religion, the government would have made one religion THE one that all must follow. I would also expect that if we were "establish" something, like establishing rules to play by, then we would expect to follow those established rules, or risk forfeiting a game, or rights, or benefits. With that thinking, it is a fact that our government has not done anything like that, and NO ONE has been denied any government benefits or other rights under the constitution, because of the lack of practicing any one religion. If anyone would have been so denied, then redress should be made.
So ... What's the deal with all the law suits and protests over the word "God" on money, signage, or anything else in local, state, or federal government? In all these years, about 220 years, NO ONE has been made to practice any one, any "established", religion. NO ONE has been denied their rights. And I can not imagine ANY harm that has come from such mentions. (As a point to be made here, one of my co-workers is a Muslim, and it doesn't bother him in the least. He has told me that he knew our country was founded on Christian principles, and his family moved here anyway.)
It looks to me, that the only real issue with such objections, is that there are those who HATE God and/or religion, and don't want to see it anywhere. It is simply an attack on ALL of us who practice a religion. And I dare say, it is almost exclusively Christianity that is being attacked.
And I'll add this, other than a few religious zealots, most of us DO NOT go around attacking their, the non-believers, right to NOT believe in a religion. I'm not harmed by their non-belief. Their non-belief has no effect on my life. So to those who want to wipe God off everything, I say ....give it up! YOU have not been harmed or denied anything because of MY belief, or the word God on our currency, or the Ten Commandments on the building of the Supreme Court. And don't deny MY right to the free exercise thereof, by trying to attack my faith at every turn.
Pay attention on this one: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." And, NO LAW has been made to establish a religion. NONE. Nadda.
