You Can Trust In “God” All You Want, But “We” Certainly Do Not

“In God we trust.”

It appears on our currency from coins to bills. It is the motto of the United States of America.

“In God we trust.”

Except we do not. I do not. I am an atheist. I trust no god, because gods do not exist. I, and approximately one out of twenty U.S. citizens, do not trust in a god. That number is increasing. More and more atheists are coming forward publicly, and our nation still holds onto this motto.

“In God we trust.”

Do we really? In a nation that takes such pride in our having freedom of religion, and also freedom from religion, how much trust do we actually have in this “God” that we violate our separation of church and state with such audacity that we allow our currency to shamelessly endorse the Judeo-Christian faith above all others.

“In God we trust?”

No. No we do not. Not all of us.

I trust that the majority of my fellow citizens will do their part as they have throughout history. I trust that people will behave morally without fear of divine punishment, because moral behavior is what benefits us the most as a society. You can point at the worst of humanity and claim that is not so, but even with our flawed members our human race has prospered despite there being no god. Forty-thousand plus years of human evolution proves that we are moral, and now we know that is primarily through natural and biological means that our cultures tend to reinforce.

“Upon our citizens we rely.”

That is what our nation’s motto should be. That motto embodies what the United States of America is truly about – active citizens doing their part for themselves and the nation as a whole. Citizens embracing their beliefs, whether religious or not, and then acting upon them without violating the rights of others in the process.

If you trust in a god that is your right, but I do not and that is why I want our nation’s motto changed. Not because of the “God” part, but because of the “we” part.

We do not trust in “God” even if you do. I would never ask that “we” all abandon religion though. I do demand that our government not declare my religious beliefs, and I will not tolerate our government doing the same for you either.

You trust in your beliefs, I will trust in mine, and our government should trust all of us to speak for ourselves.