Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 42 replies, 42 voices, and was last updated 20 years ago by
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Do atheists always dislike seeing or hearing references to God, or only in certain situations, such as during the Pledge of Allegiance? Does the word ‘God’ on money anger atheists? If so, why?
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Name : Sam B., Gender : F, Religion : Christian, City : Sacramento, State : CA, Country : United States,I think if you dont believe in something, it cant affect you in any way, so no, im not annoyed by it at all.
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Name : Kate, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 21, City : uk, State : NA, Country : United Kingdom, Occupation : student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,Coincidentally, I happened across a bulletin board this week where the core of the discussion was about removing the word GOD from paper bills and writing Us or Me above it. The dialogue went on to talk about the hundreds and thousands of bills they could effectively change as a group and referred to them as “Corrected Bills”. One or two seemed angry, but mostly the dialogue was reinforcing separation of Church and State, and that they are just doing what they feel the government ought to be doing. They went on to talk about efforts being made in Belgium and Finland to do the same to the Euro. But this is just one site, and they seemed quite serious about their money having GOD on it, or as they will only type: “IGWT”.
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Name : Dave26011, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 36, City : Long Island, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : Pre Outsourced Techie, Education level : Technical School, Social class : Middle class,I am not an atheist, but I can understand how they feel. I was raised Catholic, but am no longer ‘Christian’ in the way Christians define themselves. I mind all the references to God – in the pledge, on the money, in opening prayers at sporting events, graduations, etc. It is not right that the majority disrespects the minority – no matter who the minority is. I have a lot of respect for Jesus, Buddah, Gandhi, Mother Teresa and other people who have taught us to live selflessly. However, I don’t think the Christian majority will like it when they become the minority and we start our prayers to Allah, or Yahweh, or some other name for the same diety. Jesus Christ did not condone what Christians are doing. ‘Render unto Ceaser that which is Ceasar’s, render unto God that which is God’s. Even Jesus knew that some things are earthly and some are spiritual. He knew they were separate. He never condemned anyone but the Pharasees. Christians need to be mindful not to condemn others. And they need to, like Jesus, respect a separation of church and state.
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Name : Colleen, Gender : F, Age : 44, City : Brunswick, State : ME, Country : United States, Occupation : teacher's aide, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,‘They went on to talk about efforts being made in Belgium and Finland to do the same to the Euro.’ Sorry to contradict, but I am Belgian and never heard of such project. The word ‘God’ has absolutely never been mentionned on our Euro. Neither on the bills nor on the coins.
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Name : Belgian Butterfly, Gender : F, Religion : Christian, Age : 32, City : Brussels, State : NA, Country : Belgium, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,There are no references to God in any euro note. Euro notes don’t contain any national symbols. Only coins contain national symbols, and those are only pictures and country names. On the other hand, the separation of church and state is not the reality. There’s a state church that receives money taxed from corporations. Allegedly this is to maintain the graveyards of the churches, the only places where burials are legal. To answer the original question: atheists have widely differing views, because atheism refers to an abscence of, not inclusion like theism. My view is that ‘God’ is not offensive, but putting religious elements into national symbols is mixing religion – a private thing – with a public context, which is bad. I have mixed feelings of our flag, which carries a blue cross on a white background.
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Name : lh, Gender : M, Age : 21, City : Espoo, State : NA, Country : Finland,There are some overzealous atheists that want everyone to think like them, but for the most part, I don’t think the majority of them are offended at other people expressing their religious beliefs. What angers them is when they are being preached to, and told how ‘evil’ they are for possessing a different belief system.
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Name : Kristina26283, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 23, City : DC, State : DC, Country : United States, Occupation : Homemaker, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,There are definitely some contexts when hearing references to God bothers me and other contexts when it doesn’t. It doesn’t bother me to hear people who believe in God talk about their beliefs. It does bother me when people assume that I share their belief in God, and it really bothers me when people suggest that because I’m an atheist, I can’t be a good person or a real American. That’s why I wish the Pledge of Allegiance didn’t contain the words ‘under God.’ Whenever I say the Pledge, either I have to leave out those two words, which makes me feel I’m drawing attention to myself, or I have to say something I don’t believe, which feels awful. Maybe the reference to God that bothers me most is in the courtroom, when the bailiff asks witnesses to swear to tell the truth ‘so help you God.’ What will I do if I am ever a witness at a trial? Will I put my hand on the Bible and swear like everyone else? Then I’d be lying before I’ve even begun to testify. Would I ask to exercise my right to affirm, rather than swearing? If I do that, will there be people on the jury who will think I’m less trustworthy because I refused to swear?
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Name : Rob-H29696, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Unitarian, Age : 25, City : Los Angeles, State : CA, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College,As an atheist I have been asked this question many times and have recently come to find my own answer. I think the best way to picture what an atheist feels is when, for instance, they see ‘God’ on money or in the pledge. It’s the same thing as if a Christian looked at a dollar and the pledge and they had ‘Allah’ or ‘Buddah’ on them. It’s not so much they’re angry at the idea that people believe in God or whatever, it’s the fact that they’re being excluded from whatever group, in your case the U.S. Government, in question. No one wants to be excluded, but being isolated from the United States, or any ‘home’ country, is outrageous in this day and age. Also it is disrespectful to an atheist’s beliefs, due to the fact that using ‘God’ contradicts their beliefs. This is why I believe many atheists are in an uproar over the use of ‘God’ in many situations. Personally, I don’t mind all references to a higher power, but people who make those references had better be prepared to hear my response, and most are not.
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Name : Kay, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, City : Pittsburgh, State : PA, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,I’m an athiest and I dont like being forced to say ‘god’. I respect other religions, So I dont mind when people refer to god, I just get offended when people try to ‘convert’ me! When there is something I need to say containing the word ‘god’, eg anthems or something, I just say the rest of the words and remain silent for ‘god’.
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Name : Anna23811, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 20, City : Brisbane, State : NA, Country : Australia, Occupation : University Student,People’s personal expressions of faith in God don’t bother me at all. Some of it is, in fact, quite moving. I’m impressed that people who marry in the Church do so with an oath before God. Much of the system of values and ethics of Christianity seems like a really good idea to me. I am a little less comfortable when the expression of faith comes with a degree of pressure to conform. When this is social pressure, such as being at a wedding, or at a dinner party with religious people. However, I figure my feeling of pressure comes from the pervasiveness of the religious sentiment, not any one person’s beligerance. Therefore, it’s no one’s fault and is just part of what I have to live with for being a little unconventional. It’s my problem, not theirs. However, if someone is beligerant in their dislike of my beliefs (or lack thereof) I take offense and argue back at them. The worst case, however, is when the religious pressure comes from the government, because that makes it a form of coercion. I think religious symbols in city seals and ‘In God We Trust’ are harmless. But what about ‘One Nation Under God’? How can I truly pledge my allegiance when part of the pledge is something I don’t believe in? Is that part of the pledge harmless decoration—in which case it’s okay to say it without meaning it—or is it something I should be concerned about? I guess, if you express your faith in God, that’s fine. If you try, even unknowingly, to pressure me into doing the same, I get a little uncomfortable.
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Name : Mark, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 40, City : Chicago, State : IL, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Atheists dont like references to God, because they cant see why in the 21st century people still believe in fictional deities that were created by ignorant people to explain why things were, the same people that thought ‘the world’ was a small section of the europe and that the people who lived in what is now the mediterranean sea thought the ‘whole World’ flooded when the med was filled as far as swearing on the bible how would you like it if you were asked to swear on a book of zeus, fairies or Ra in the end it comes down to one thing ‘man created god’
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Name : Jeff31194, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 28, City : Newcastle, State : NA, Country : United Kingdom, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I think your post was well stated. I’d just like to focus one comment ‘respect’. when I, an atheist, or my friends who are Pagan, or others who are Buddhists, see references to God in and around Government or School bodies, we can feel excluded, or disrespected. I ask people who are Christian, how they would feel if they walked into a court room, and teh judge had over his head, an image of naked Devil worshipers, with their first commandment being ‘thou shall not ever believe in God’. And you are known in your community as a good Christian. would you worry about getting a fair trial in this court room? Can you imagine being gay, and trying to get a fair trial in a Fundamentalist’s court house? Or being a Hindu in a room where the plate says ‘thou shall have no other god before me?’ It’s frustrating when you see it on money, but it’s out right frightening when your personal judge proclaims that he believes in the OT, where they killed gays, adulterers, and people who worshiped other gods.
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Name : Kip26393, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 30, City : Boulder, State : CO, Country : United States, Occupation : what ever pays the bills, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I used to be Athiest, although now I guess you could say I’ve ‘found’ religion. I still dislike references to god by government, dispite now being a strong believer. To me, religion is a private matter, to be shared among people as equals, and not forced upon a person by any source. Also I feel that when god/religion is used in the scripted manner in which it is often used (pledge of allegiance, IGWT) it cheapens the true positive messages of the world’s religions. However, compaired to the many problems found in the world, I don’t really care too much if ‘in god we trust’ appears on a penny.
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Name : Brian, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 26, City : Spokane, State : WA, Country : United States, Occupation : Graduate Student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,It is interesting to note that there is no mention of separation of church and state in the Constitution. (Yes, I’ve read the whole thing and didn’t see it but if you do let me know!)So therefore, you have no basis for this claim other than personal reasons. The term separation of church and state is from a letter Benjamin Franklin wrote to a Baptist church that was concerned there would a state-funded church similar to the Anglican Church in England. Also interesting, Benjamin Franklin considered himself a Deist, he thought the government should show reverence to the “Creator”, as Franklin himself acknowledged.
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Name : Melissa, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Presbyterian, Age : 15, City : Jacksonville, State : FL, Country : United States, Occupation : High School Student, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,
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